


Connected

by AppleQueen_7140



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Galra Keith (Voltron), Galran Prince Keith (Voltron), Hurt Pidge | Katie Holt, Pining Lance (Voltron), Protective Keith (Voltron), Slave Pidge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-08-20 20:51:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 36,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20234188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AppleQueen_7140/pseuds/AppleQueen_7140
Summary: All Pidge cared about was getting as far ahead as she could in her studies.All that Keith was concerned with was separating himself from his horrible adopted brother.They were from two different worlds. Never in their wildest dreams would they ever happen to meet. When the Galra take over the planet Earth, though, the two of them will form a connection that would become unbreakable.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoy this story! It has been in my mind for a while now, and I'm excited to share it! 
> 
> I do not own any part of Voltron.

Keith had only been on Earth for a total of six months and eighteen days, but he knew that he much preferred this planet to his previous home. For one, Earth had a seemingly unending supply of tv shows that he could waste hours of his time watching. The food was also exquisite. Much better than the goo he had eaten for his first 14 years of life. 

It was also just more nice-looking. The sun shone a nice, pleasant, yellow color, and the waters were beautiful mixtures of blue and green. Keith could remember the awe he felt when he watched his very first sunset. It was breathtaking. 

Another positive to being on Earth was that he was rarely around his brother. Well, Lotor wasn’t actually his brother. The two were cousins. Lotor’s father, Emperor Zarkon, took Keith in after his mother died six years ago. 

Killed would be a more accurate term, but that was beside the point. No one ever talked about Keith’s parents. They all just acted as though he had always been the emperor's second son, and left it at that. Keith missed his mother. She had always given the best hugs and had had the most beautiful smile. It was able to light up any room, no matter how bleak it was (and most of Galra was pretty bleak) and she always made him feel warm inside. He hadn’t felt that warmth since he was a small child. 

He was constantly told how lucky he was to have been taken in by Zarkon, how many would have killed to take his place, how he should be honored. He didn’t feel lucky or honored by any means. Emperor Zarkon was harsh and cold. Nothing Keith did was acceptable, no matter how hard he tried to please his adoptive father. Empress Haggar was no better. Even though she couldn’t possibly compare to the emperor’s imposing stature, she was terrifying in her own right. Keith didn’t see her much (to be honest, he wasn’t even sure she knew that he existed) but when he did, he couldn’t help but quiver with fear. There was just something about her that screamed “danger!” 

And then there was his adoptive brother. 

Keith supposed that having two messed up parents would make you at least a little insane, and Lotor did not disappoint. The crown prince relished in feeling the pain of others. Whenever someone greatly displeased Zarkon, he often sent them off to be tortured by his son, who always came back with a gleam in his eyes. At only 19, he truly was a monster. 

Being on Earth had only made him worse. The two of them had been sent to the planet early by their father, who was still preparing for his conquest of the planet, to become more comfortable with it. It would be their new permanent home, after all, so the emperor wanted them to get used to it. While Keith had used this time to look at the wildlife and enjoy being apart from his demented family, Lotor took this opportunity to kidnap Earthen girls and make them his slaves. 

Keith tried his hardest not to ever pass by his brother’s room, but there were some days, like this one, where it was inevitable. More troops had just arrived and were all over the main hallways. Keith didn’t want to deal with them, so he was forced to travel through side corridors if he wanted to get anywhere other than his room. These routes had him constantly passing Lotor’s room. As he passed by, Keith wasn’t surprised to hear the loud cries of his brother’s newest find. 

He paused. The door was open, and crossing in front of it would give him a good view of what was inside. He didn’t want to look (he really didn’t) but part of him honestly was curious as to what his brother did to the girls he brought in there. 

Against his better judgment, he peeked inside. 

It was dark. The windows were covered. The only light came from the lit candles around the room. Lotor was standing over his bed, his eyes large and shining, a wide smile on his face as he looked down at the naked red-haired girl tied below him on her stomach. 

She was crying. Keith watched as his brother raised his hand and brought a whip down to crack against the girl’s back. She screamed as soon as it hit her, and Keith saw a nasty red line appear on her skin in the place where the whip touched. Lotor didn’t stop at that. He raised the whip and hit her again. This time, Keith saw blood appear from the wound the whip inflicted.

Keith had never seen human blood before. Galra bled purple, so he was surprised to see crimson liquid appear from the cut in the girl’s skin. He wrinkled his nose. He could smell it clearly from his spot by the door, and it wasn’t pleasant. 

Lotor didn’t seem to mind the smell. He cracked the whip against the girl again and again and again. He left just enough space between each hit for her to feel the new wave of pain but didn’t leave nearly enough time for her to recover from it. The girl was writhing and sobbing from the pain, but Lotor didn’t let up. His smile widened and his smile brightened. 

There was blood everywhere; all over the girl’s back; all over the whip; all over the bedsheets. There was blood all over Lotor’s hands. Keith watched his brother pause torturing the girl for a moment so he could bring his hand to his face. He took a couple of long sniffs before eventually licking the red substance off of his fingers. 

Keith turned away at that and stumbled away from the door. He couldn’t watch any more. He brought one hand to his stomach and the other to his mouth, positive that he was going to lose his lunch. He closed his eyes, his body shaking. Oh, how he wished he never looked in that room. How he wished he never had a peek into the madness of his brother’s mind. 

He looked at his trembling hands, imagining crimson covering them like it did his brother’s. But when he glanced at them, his normally purple hands were much whiter and paler. He sighed and closed his eyes. When he opened them, his hands were normal again. He hated when that happened. It caused nothing but trouble. He looked back at his brother’s door, where he could still faintly hear the cries of the poor girl trapped inside. 

—————————————————————

It’s extremely rare for someone to skip a grade, unheard of for someone to skip two. At least, until a particular rainy August day. 

Katie Holt was the third person in her first-period class. She would have been the first if her older brother, Matt, hadn’t spent forever in the bathroom trying to make his hair look “not like that of a complete and utter dork”. But he wanted to look good for the first day of his senior year and he was her ride, so there was not much she could do. 

Luckily, her other two classmates hadn’t sat in any seats in the front row, and she was able to pick one dead center. The minute she got to her seat, she immediately took out her textbook to read it. She had already gotten through a pretty good chunk of it during summer vacation, but she wanted to continue where she had left off. If she worked hard enough, she might be able to skip a third grade. Now wouldn’t that be something?

As her classmates entered the science lab, Katie could feel their eyes on her. She ignored them. She was used to the stares. Even though she was only two years younger than the rest of her class, she was so small that she probably looked more like an eight-year-old rather than an eleven-year-old. Her feet weren’t even able to touch the floor when she sat in her chair. 

“Hey. Mind if I sit here?” Came a soft voice. 

Katie looked up to see the warm brown eyes of a boy with perhaps the friendliest smile she had ever seen. He had a big belly that made him look like a teddy bear, and his dark brown hair nearly covered the orange bandana that he had tied around his forehead. 

“Sure,” she said before turning back to her reading. 

“My name’s Hunk,” he said as he took the seat to her right. 

“I’m Katie,” she replied without looking up from her book. 

“Pretty,” he murmured. He didn’t add anything more to the conversation and neither did she. She noticed that he pulled out his textbook to read as well. She felt strangely comfortable in his presence. Maybe it was the teddy bear vibe. 

The bell rang, and their teacher stood up to begin the lesson. As it was the first day, this lesson consisted of him telling them where he was from, what he liked to do, and how he liked his eggs cooked. Katie completely zoned him out, thinking about all of the other more important things she could be learning about at that moment. She noticed that Hunk seemed very invested in their teacher's obsession with fried eggs. 

Right as their teacher (Katie still hadn’t bothered to learn his name) got to the part in his PowerPoint which talked about what they would be learning that year, he was interrupted by the classroom door being thrown open. 

“Sorry. Sorry!” Came the voice of the perpetrator, a tall lanky boy with dark hair. “The bus left without me.”

Katie could hear the class giggle. Hunk put his head into his hands and groaned, exasperatedly. Katie would have laughed if she weren’t so annoyed that the new boy just interrupted the only interesting part of the presentation. 

“Settle down everyone. Settle down.” Their teacher said. “Lance, take a seat.”

“Mr. Jones was our science teacher last year. He’s not the biggest fan of Lance,” Hunk whispered to her. Katie nodded. That explained how he knew the new boy's name. She also couldn’t blame her teacher. From the way the boy, Lance, entered the room, she could tell that he was more than the slightest bit annoying. 

She gave a glance around the room and her stomach dropped. Every table in the classroom had three chairs to it, and every seat was taken except...

“Who’s the pipsqueak?” Lance asked as he plopped down in the seat to her left. 

“I hope you all like who you’re sitting beside,” Mr. Jones announced to the class. “Because these will be your lab groups for the rest of the year. 

Katie put her head into her hands. It was going to be a long year.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thrilled that many people seem to be interested in this story! I hope you all like where it goes!
> 
> I also want to thank everyone who has made comments or given kudos so far. It means the world!
> 
> I don't own Voltron or any of its characters.

“Lance, no. I’m putting my foot down.”

“Come on. I’ll be careful!”

“There is no ‘being careful’ involved in flinging yourself down the drain to see if you can meet the teenage mutant ninja turtles in the sewers!”

“I said absolutely nothing about the teenage mutant ninja turtles. I just wanted to see if the drain connected to the sewers, that’s all!”

Katie rubbed her fingers over her temples, trying to drown out Lance and Hunk’s stupid argument. Why she decided to befriend the pair of them two years ago, she had no idea. Well, she knew why she became friends with Hunk. They were in almost all of the same classes, he was very kind and patient, he was capable of having an intelligent conversation with her, and on top of all that, he was an excellent cook. 

Lance was just the annoying side dish that came with the main course. 

Sure, being friends with Lance had its benefits as well. Hunk wasn’t much into gaming, but Lance was just as big a fan of it as Katie was. The two of them had spent countless hours in either of his or her rooms playing all sorts of video games. He even spent a day with her digging coins out of the mall fountain so that she could buy ‘Killbot Phantasm I’ when she ran out of her allowance. He could be serious when he wanted to, and when he wasn’t, he was terribly fun to tease. 

“IT could be down there, Hunk! Ya know? It! We could meet Pennywise!”

Then again, he was still as annoying as ever. 

The three of them were at the local recreational center, which was where they had spent most of their summer so far. Lance was trying to get onto the swim team next school year, so he had spent the entire break training, dragging his two friends along with him. Hunk was happy to come as moral support as well as to keep Lance on track. It was very easy for Lance to get distracted, this being one of those times. Katie came along because Hunk made her, and because the pool had surprisingly good WiFi. 

“Pidge, back me up here,” Hunk sighed, looking over at her with dejection and annoyance painted all over his face. 

Matt had nicknamed Katie ‘Pigeon’ when she was very little. Apparently she had looked like one, at least according to her brother. Over the years, ‘Pigeon’ had been shortened to ‘Pidge’, and the name stuck. 

Lance had been unable to stop laughing when he learned of this nickname and vowed never to call her anything else. After a while, Hunk found himself referring to her as that as well. Katie didn’t mind. The nickname made her feel a part of the group, something she enjoyed no matter how many times she claimed otherwise. She even announced that this meant she and Hunk were closer friends to each other than they were with Lance, as they both had nicknames while Lance didn’t. This spawned weeks upon weeks of Pidge and Hunk refusing to call Lance any of the names he came up for himself, much to his laughable annoyance. 

“Come on, Pidge! You know you want to find Pennywise the Dancing Clown!”

She ignored both of them, trying (and failing) to concentrate on her work. Lance wouldn’t take the hint and continued pestering her. She could practically feel his nagging voice poking at her. 

“Will you stop bugging me?” She snapped, whipping her head around to face him. “I’m trying to work.”

“Well, I would if you weren’t leaving us, Pidgeon,” Lance said, with a bit of tension not-so-carefully hidden under his jovial attitude. 

Pidge clenched her jaw and turned back to her work. She could hear Hunk whisper something to Lance, probably scolding him for his comment. 

Talk of the next school year had been a sensitive topic for the three of them all summer. Lance and Hunk would be going into their sophomore year of high school as normal, but Pidge’s plan was for her to be going into her junior year instead. All that was standing in her way were the tests to prove she was ready to skip the tenth grade. Tests that she would currently be studying for if she wasn’t being distracted by her obnoxious friends.

She honestly did feel hesitant about leaving them. They were the first friends she ever had, and she knew she would miss them a lot (maybe not Lance so much). This was her future though. She had a huge opportunity to get a further head start on her career, and she wasn’t going to let anything hold her back. Hunk had been understanding from the beginning. He did, naturally, cry when she first told them and had swept her up in a giant hug that she swore broke some of her ribs, but he never attempted to deter her from her goals. 

Lance reacted very differently. At first, he was silent, not speaking to her for a while or even looking at her. Once he seemed to get over the initial shock of it all, he acted as though nothing had changed and that everything was completely normal. The only indicators that proved he hadn’t blocked the news out entirely were the passive-aggressive comments he would often make towards her. She was getting sick and tired of it, no matter how guilty she felt. She clenched her hands into fists. What was the best way to solve this? 

“Katie! Oh, God, Katie! There you are!”

She was pulled from her thoughts by the arrival of her brother. Matt had pushed open the doors to the pool and was sprinting towards her, completely ignoring the lifeguards whistling at him to slow down. Pidge would have laughed at how ridiculous he looked if she weren’t so concerned by the panicked look on his face. 

Something was wrong. Matt never called her Katie. 

The second he reached her, Matt grabbed Pidge by the arms and started pulling her away. 

“We have to go, now!” 

“Wait, Matt! My stuff!” 

“Hey! What’s going on?” Lance pulled himself out of the pool. 

“Lance, Hunk, you two come with. Hurry up,” Matt said, not slowing his trek to the exit. 

“Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. Hold on.” Lance was trying to follow the Holt siblings while drying off and putting on his clothes at the same time. It wasn’t working out well for him. Pidge was thankful to see that Hunk had grabbed her computer and bag for her. She looked up at her brother. He was staring straight ahead, his jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed behind his round glasses. Little beads of sweat were sticking to his forehead. 

What was going on?

“This everyone?”

Pidge would have stopped in her tracks if Matt weren’t dragging her along. Takashi Shirogane was standing in the emergency exit doors. Shiro had lived next to the Holts for as long as Pidge could remember. He was ten years older than her and four years older than Matt but always seemed to enjoy being around the two of them, as he was always at their house. He was basically her surrogate older brother. Who knows what kind of trouble she and Matt would have gotten into if Shiro weren’t around to rein them in. He had enlisted in the Air Force almost immediately after high school and became a fighter pilot, so she hadn’t seen him in years. He wasn’t supposed to be back home for a while. 

If he was here, something really serious was going on. 

“Shiro?” She said in disbelief. 

He smiled at her kindly, but she could tell that he was only hiding how worried he was. “It’s good to see you, Katie.”

“What’s…?”

“We’ll tell you in a bit, but we gotta get out of here first.” Shiro kept glancing out the door. “Ok. The coast is clear. Come on.”

They carefully stepped out the door, Shiro in the lead, still keeping a watchful eye out. Matt had switched from holding onto Pidge’s arm to holding her hand. He squeezed it and she squeezed back, still completely lost as to what was going on. 

“Alright. Everybody in,” Shiro said once they made it to a dirty old Jeep that looked as though it was one bump away from completely falling apart. 

They all piled into the accident waiting to happen. Pidge was squeezed in between Lance and Matt, who refused to let go of her hand, forcing Hunk to sit up front beside Shiro. The big guy was star-struck. Pidge had often talked about Shiro and how great he was, so Hunk was ecstatic to this living legend in the flesh. He seemed to have forgotten that they were in the middle of an emergency, even though the three high schoolers had no idea as to what this emergency was. 

“Well, there’s no easy way to put this,” Shiro said once they started on the road. “We’ve been invaded by aliens.”

If there was anything Pidge was expected this emergency to be, aliens were far from it. 

“Aliens?” Lance laughed. “Aliens? Are you serious? You almost gave me a heart attack dude! I thought something serious had…”

“Shiro’s telling the truth, Lance,” Matt said in a softer voice that was still just as firm as Shiro’s.  
One look at her brother’s face told Pidge that he wasn’t kidding. Aliens really were the issue. But…

“How do you know this, Shiro?” She asked. 

Shiro let out a breath, tightening his grip on his steering wheel. 

“I was out for a test flight a week or so ago with my partner when we had a run-in with some of their ships in the dessert. Let me tell you, they were definitely alien.” He shuddered. “Nothing like that could have been made on Earth. We managed to evade them for a while but…” Shiro’s voice broke for a second. He cleared his throat before continuing. “But my partner didn’t make it. He was shot down. There was nothing I could do.” He paused. No one said a word until he began speaking again, his voice much more strained. 

“I don’t know how I was able to get away. I thought for sure I was gonna die there, but I managed to escape, somehow. No one would believe me. They all claimed Adam died in an accident. That his death was his fault. But it wasn’t! He was killed!” Shiro was breathing heavily, his voice shaking with anger. 

“I knew I had to do something, so I left. I went to your dad for help, Katie, and he believed me immediately.”

Pidge nodded. That sounded like her father. Samuel Holt was a scientist at the local university. He was a genius and known worldwide for his advancements in communications technology. He was also a firm believer that there was life outside of Earth. One of the reasons he was so passionate about his work in communications was because he truly believed that aliens were out there. It made complete sense for Shiro to go to him for help. 

“After a few days, he was able to get connected to their communication system. We listened in for a while. They’re from the planet Daibazaal and have taken over countless other planets. Their leader, Emperor Zarkon, had his eye on Earth for a while. They’ve had spies on Earth for years, watching us.”

“Oh my God,” Lance whispered, his eyes wide, all of his usual bravado completely gone. Pidge has never seen him look so scared. 

“We were monitoring their messages today, as usual, but something was different. They were more excited about something. After a few hours, we realized that their invasion of Earth is happening today. Your dad sent me to get you and Matt and to bring you both to him and your mom. We’re going into hiding.”

Pidge’s mind was reeling. This was too much information to take in all at once. 

“Wait. So we’re just gonna leave the rest of the world to the mercy of these alien freaks?”

Matt looked over at her sympathetically. “Even if we were able to convince them that aliens existed and are planning to attack us, which would be highly unlikely if Shiro’s story is anything to go by, what good would that do? Forgive me if I’m not fully informed of the military’s might, but I doubt they have anything close to the technology that could fight against these guys.”

“We can’t just do nothing,” she looked desperately at her brother and Shiro, but they both shared the same hardened look. 

Lance and Hunk had both pulled out their phones, probably to contact their families, she thought to herself. If their expressions were anything to go by, though, they weren’t having much luck. 

The recreational center was a fair distance from the city, which was where the university was. The nearer they got to the city, it became clearer and clearer that something had happened. People were screaming. Some were running, some were trying desperately to get into their cars, and some were driving like madmen. They all were trying to get away from the city. Away from the giant alien spaceship in the sky. 

“Holy shit,” Lance breathed. Hunk didn’t admonish him for cursing like he usually did. The larger boy was too focused on the horror in front of them. All of their eyes were fixed on the huge monstrosity. No one moved. No one seemed to breathe. 

And then the warship reigned fire down on the city.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so I know that I already updated today, but I couldn't help myself! 
> 
> I don't own Voltron in the slightest.

Shiro was driving like a madman, careening around corners and going faster than Pidge had ever been driven in her life. They were heading away from the city now, or at least, what had been the city. 

Behind them were the fiery ruins of what their lives used to be. Smoke filled the air, obscuring almost everything in sight. What it didn’t hide was the monstrous ship that seemed to stay the same distance away from them no matter how far they went. 

Pidge couldn’t process any of this. She couldn’t hear Lance’s curses or Hunk’s screams as Shiro made a particularly scary swerve. She couldn’t feel Matt’s hand clenched tightly around hers. She couldn’t see the road in front of her. 

The only thing she could focus on was that the city was destroyed. The university was destroyed. 

Samuel and Colleen Holt were dead. 

Pidge’s parents were gone. 

“Katie. Katie. Pidge.”

Pidge turned to face her brother. Tear tracks stained his cheeks, and she could feel her own tears rolling down her face. Matt pulled her into his arms as best he could in the confines of Shiro’s Jeep. Her mind vaguely registered that she was trembling, but all that mattered to her was that Matt was with her. He was still there. 

She burrowed her face into his chest. He was stroking her hair, murmuring words of comfort into her ear. His voice was shaking, though, and she could tell that he was trying hard not to cry. That he was trying to be strong. 

Strong for her. 

She couldn’t let him shoulder the burden of worrying for her. They were alone. Their parents were dead. They only had each other. She had to be strong for him too. 

She pulled back from his embrace and looked into his reddened eyes. She wiped his tears away, leaving one hand to rest on his cheek. He closed his eyes, leaning into her touch. They would get through this. They had to get through this. 

Lance cursed again. The two siblings turned to look at him. The Cuban boy was on his phone, looking at the small screen in horror. 

“These ships are all over the world!” He held out the phone so that Pidge and Matt could see the news report that was on it. 

There were the destroyed cities of London, Paris, Hong Kong, Moscow, Tokyo, Berlin, NYC, and countless more. Pidge couldn’t bear to look at them anymore, but she also couldn’t look away. 

“They’re attacking every major city,” Lance continued. 

“But why us?” Hunk asked. “Why spare one of their ships to attack our city? We’re not that big or important.”

“It’s because of me.”

Shiro spoke for the first time since the beginning of the invasion. His voice was hollow. 

“They must have figured out that Samuel and I hacked into their communications.”

Pidge’s eyes burned. Her heart felt like it would shatter at any moment. She couldn’t breathe. The reality of her parents' deaths came crashing down on her again. Part of her wanted to blame Shiro for everything, but she knew deep in her heart that she couldn’t. Matt had his head in his hands. She reached over to lay her hand on his back, unsure of the best way to comfort him. 

“Have you gotten ahold of your family?” She heard Hunk ask. 

“No,” Lance said. “You?”

“No.”

Pidge’s heart ached for the boys. She at least knew what became of her parents and could grieve accordingly. Hunk and Lance didn’t have that. She reached out her free hand to grasp Lance’s. They didn’t look at each other, but he squeezed it, so she knew that he appreciated the gesture. 

After hours of driving, Shiro suddenly stopped the car. Pidge looked out her window to see that their destination was, of all places, a Walmart. She and Lance looked at each other, puzzled, before turning their confused gazes to Shiro. 

“We need supplies,” he said shortly as he got out of the car and slammed the door shut. The sound of it made Pidge flinch. 

That was how the disgruntled group of five found themselves browsing the shelves of the abandoned Walmart. It was, surprisingly, a pretty good place to go when an apocalypse was going on. On top of the clothes, blankets, toiletries, and other necessities, there was a seemingly endless supply of food, fishing equipment, and camping gear, as well as guns and ammunition. 

Shiro had grabbed a bunch of duffle bags and ordered them all to fill them with as much as they could hold. Hunk was sent to get food and Lance to get clothes and blankets. Shiro was in charge of guns and ammunition, and Pidge and Matt were assigned to look throughout the store for anything else they could need. 

“Matches. We need matches,” Matt murmured, throwing heaps upon heaps of matchboxes into one of the duffles Shiro gave him and his sister. 

Pidge came stumbling into the aisle, back from her trip a couple of shelves over, her arms filled with boxes of Cutco knives. 

Matt whistled when he saw what she had brought. “Smart,” He said. She nodded. 

The two of them hadn’t talked yet about their parents' deaths. It was almost as if it wouldn’t be true if they didn’t mention it. That wasn’t how life worked, though. They needed to have a conversation about it sooner or later. 

Pidge decided that sooner was the better option. 

“Matt,” she said hesitantly, not completely sure of how to go about doing this. “We’re...mom and dad...they’re.”

“Pidge,” He said, his voice hard. “Not now.”

Ok, so Matt seemed to be firmly in the “later” group. 

“But Matt…”

“No, Pidge,” he clenched his hands and bowed his head so close to his chest that she couldn’t see his face. “I...I can’t.”

He looked up and his expression softened, probably because of the hurt look in her eyes. He took her face in his hands and lifted it to look at him. 

“Not yet.”

His face was full of despair. Full of regret. Full of pain. He was trying hard to hide it all, but Pidge could read her brother like a book. There was nothing that he could hide from her. She closed her eyes and slowly nodded. If there was anything she could do to make at least some of his pain lessen even a little bit, she would do it without question. If time was what Matt needed, she would give him all the time in the world. 

Even if what she desperately needed was the complete opposite. 

—————————————————————

After deeming their Walmart run successful, Shiro had everyone get back in the car, and he continued driving to who knows where. Pidge could no longer see that blasted alien ship anymore, so she wasn’t going to complain. Unlike the others, Lance seemed more like his usual self than before. He was chatting nonstop, even though no one would say anything back to him. It was easy to see that this was annoying Shiro. He was gripping his steering wheel very tightly and shooting glares at Lance through the rearview mirror. 

Pidge knew Lance well enough, though, to know that he was doing this to hide how he was truly feeling. Lance didn’t like to show people that he was having a hard time. He preferred to keep things bottled up inside and let others believe that he was completely unfazed. He was like Matt in a way, Pidge mused. He didn’t like confronting his issues. 

“We need a name,” Lance was saying. 

“A name?” Asked Hunk, completely breaking the unspoken rule among them of not talking to Lance. 

“Yeah. A team name!”

“Why?”

“I dunno. Cause it’ll be cool, I guess.”

“There’s nothing cool about any of this, Lance,” the normally level-headed and sensible Hunk snapped. “Thousands of people, maybe millions, have died. Our families could be dead, Pidge’s parents are dead, the world has been taken over by an evil alien species, and you want to come up with a cool team nickname?”

Lance’s eyes widened as he looked at his furious best friend. He looked down at his lap. His hands were clenched together. His breathing became more labored. 

“How about Voltron?”

Everyone in the car turned to look at Pidge. Even Shiro looked at her through the mirror. Lance whipped his head up at the name. 

It was the name of the robot, he, Hunk, and Pidge had designed for their robotic class. They called it the Defender of the Universe. It would be a giant robot made up of five different lion robots that would each be flown by separate people who would then be telepathically linked together once they came together to form Voltron. Lance was the one who came up with the name. He had been very proud of himself, as that had been his only contribution to the project. 

Hunk’s expression softened. “Yeah. Voltron. I like it.”

“I agree. It sounds good,” Matt said. Pidge squeezed his hand in thanks. 

They all turned to Shiro. He held Pidge’s gaze in the mirror for a full five seconds (she was terrified he was going to crash into something that entire time) before saying, “that sounds perfect, Pidge.”

Lance looked like he was about to cry. Pidge reaches out and squeezed his arm. He lifted his hand and took hers to squeeze it himself. She laid her head on his shoulder, and he rested his head on top of hers, humming contentedly. 

They would be ok. Everything was going to be ok. 

—————————————————————

Pidge should have known not to entertain foolish thoughts such as that. Everything had been fine for two weeks. For two weeks, team Voltron had been successful in living their lives while staying away from the Galra. 

Before their phones died, they kept up as best they could with what was going on in society. The Galra had completely taken over. All the major cities had fallen, and most everything was under their control. The U.S military was obliterated, as were all the other militaries from around the world. There were a few rebel groups that had tried to rise up against the Galra, but they were wiped out immediately. 

Earth was in the hands of the Galra now. 

Shiro kept driving their little group from place to place, trying to get them as much in the middle of nowhere as possible. His car eventually died, so they were forced to make do on foot. 

They set up camp in a forest. It was a nice place. There was a river that ran through it, so there was always a fresh supply of water. There were plenty of animals around (and Shiro had gotten pretty proficient at hunting) and Pidge was able to figure out what plants were edible and safe to eat, so they had enough food. Despite everything, they managed to enjoy themselves. Sure, there were lots of tears in the beginning, but the group eventually started to bond with each other and even have a little fun. Hunk was an exceptional cook, even with the limited and pitiful resources they had. Lance was remarkably good at climbing trees and was entertaining everyone with his monkey-like behavior. It was refreshing to be able to relax and try to forget about all that had happened. 

They shouldn’t have let their guard down. 

It was a day like any other when the Galra found them. Shiro was off scouting the area. Hunk was gathering some of the berries that Pidge had deemed safe to eat. Lance was bugging Pidge and Matt as they were working on trying to figure out a way to turn Shiro’s car engine into a sort of heating device. Pidge was about to say a few choice words to her friend in an attempt to get him to leave them alone when Shiro burst through the trees. 

He was at a dead sprint, eyes wide and full of terror, screaming, “They’re here! Run! The Galra are here!”

Hunk immediately reacted, dropping his berries and running as fast as he could after Shiro. Pidge and Matt stood up and followed them just as quickly. Lance rose as well but didn’t go with the group. The Cuban boy instead ran back towards their tent. 

“Lance!” Pidge screamed, starting to run after him. 

“No, Pidge!” Matt grabbed his sister around the waist and forcefully pulled her along. “We have to run!”

“But Lance!”

“We have to go on without him! I’m not losing you too!”

Pidge looked back, unable to see Lance’s form anymore. She reluctantly let herself be dragged away by her brother. They barely made it a few yards before they heard the voices and footsteps of their pursuers. Pidge ran as fast as she could. Her chest felt like it was going to explode and her legs ached, but she kept on running. 

It wasn’t fast enough, though. 

Try as hard as she might, she could never even dream of reaching the speed of Shiro, or even Hunk, both of whom were already far ahead. She could tell by his breathing that Matt wasn’t running as fast as he could. She wanted to tell him to leave her behind and save himself. She didn’t for two reasons; one was because she knew he would never do that, the other was because she could barely intake enough air to breathe, let alone talk. With every step she took, she could hear the aliens getting closer and closer to them. 

Damn her short legs. 

She cursed her legs again when they tripped over a tree root, causing her to fall. Matt was immediately pulling her back up but stopped completely when she cried out in pain. She grabbed onto her ankle and bit her lip to stifle another cry. It was twisted, maybe broken. 

Why did the universe seem to hate her?

Matt looked around for Shiro and, but he and Hunk weren’t in view anymore. Matt was wrapping his arms around his little sister to carry her himself when three Galra finally came into view. 

It was immediately obvious that these creatures weren’t human. They were huge, taller than anyone Pidge had ever seen. Their skin was covered in purple fur, and they had large pointed ears sticking out on the tops of their heads. Pidge would have already been terrified of them, but she was completely frozen in fear when she saw their eyes. 

Their eyes were completely yellow. They didn’t have any pupils, nor were there any whites. It wasn’t a pleasant yellow, either, like the warm glow of the sun or the soft shimmer of lemonade. These monsters had demon eyes. 

The one in the front bared his pointy teeth in what Pidge assumed was supposed to be a smile. 

“Tell Croil that we found another one for him,” he growled in a harsh voice that sounded like it belonged to an animal. “A little one.”

He directed his monstrous gaze at her and Pidge felt all of the air leave her chest. Matt pushed himself in front of her. 

“You will not take her!” He shouted. His body was tense as if he were ready to lunge at the aliens at any second. Pidge tried to move, tried to do anything that would help her brother, but she was still paralyzed with fear. 

The soldier in the front threw back his head and laughed, the other two followed his example. Their laughs were sickening to the ear, like nails on a chalkboard. Pidge would have winced if she could move. 

“We will take whatever we damn well please,” the leader said, stepping forward. 

Matt lept at him. It didn’t seem to matter that he was unarmed and the three Galra in front of him all had huge swords. It didn’t seem to matter that they towered over him by a couple of feet. It didn’t seem to matter that these creatures had wiped out countless human rebellions with ease. The only thing that mattered was his sister, and these guys just threatened her. Matt was going to do everything he could to protect her or die trying. 

“Matt!” Pidge screamed, finally unfrozen. She tried to run after her brother but fell again due to the pain in her foot that had started to radiate up her leg. 

There was nothing she could do. She could only watch. She watched Matt run up to the Galra soldier. She watched the soldier plunge his sword into her brother’s chest. She watched him choke as the sword was twisted, then yanked out, covered in his blood. She watched him fall to the ground. 

Time slowed to a halt. Everything was still. The only thing that moved was the boy on the ground, rolling over, despite the tremendous pain he was in, and lifting his head to look his little sister in the eyes. The eyes that they shared. Their mother’s eyes. 

Pidge no longer registered the pain in her foot. She no longer registered the Galra soldiers. Nothing existed except her brother. Her brother that used to give her piggyback rides around their yard, that spent hours helping her with her homework, that teamed up with her to convince their parents to let them get a dog, that refused to switch to contact lenses even though his round glasses made him look like even more of a dork. 

She watched the light leave her brother’s eyes. 

Pidge didn’t know how it happened, but one second she was feet away from Matt, and the next his head was in her lap and she was stroking his hair, almost as if she were trying to wake him up. But her brother wasn’t going to wake up. No, he would never lift his head again. 

Pidge suddenly felt a pain in her head. The head Galra soldier was standing over her. His nails were digging into her scalp as he pulled her head up to face him. She could feel the blood trickling down from where he pierced her skin. She held his gaze, too numb to be afraid of his demonic eyes. He smiled his leering smile at her as if entertained by her sudden lack of fear. 

Just as soon as the pain appeared, it was gone. The Galra soldier slumped to the ground. Lance was there with a rifle in his hands and fire in his eyes. He had shot the Galra soldier holding onto her. He had shot all three of the Galra in the forest. He had saved her. 

But her brother could not be saved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that I killed Matt! It needed to happen, though. 😢 
> 
> On a lighter note, I decided that they went to Walmart for supplies because of a debate I had with my friends months ago. We were trying to decide what the best store to live in for a zombie apocalypse would be and Walmart won! As this story involved an alien apocalypse, I was inspired to include that little detail.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you are all having wonderful days!
> 
> I don't own Voltron or any of its characters.

In Pidge’s opinion, the top three worst things about your planet being taken over by a hostile alien race were:

No air conditioning   
No running water  
No WiFi

(This was, of course, excluding the actual worst thing about your planet being taken over by a hostile alien race. This being that everyone you loved was either dead or missing.)

Pidge wiped some sweat off her face. Yeah, she really could use some good air conditioning right about now. After the attack that killed Matt nearly two years ago, Shiro had insisted on making sure they were all able to defend themselves. This meant becoming proficient in hand-to-hand combat, as well as other means of self-defense. While Lance and Hunk both opted for guns, Pidge preferred fighting with knives. In addition to slashing and stabbing with them, she had also gotten pretty good at throwing them. 

The biggest part of their training was increasing their strength, speed, and endurance. Shiro was merciless. He had them running lap after lap around their campsite, doing pull-ups on branches, climbing trees, and bench-pressing anything heavy that he could find. Lance once asked her after a particularly grueling exercise if she thought Shiro would mind if Lance strangled him in his sleep. 

She didn’t think that Lance was entirely kidding. 

Pidge was currently on her 37th lap around their newest base that they called home. They had created a pretty significantly sized territory for themselves, so she had been running for a good amount of time, to say the least. This was what brought up the thought of sweet sweet air conditioning. 

Everyone else in their camp usually trained together, but if she had the option, Pidge would choose to train by herself. It may have been two years, but she was still suffering from the loss of her family. As Shiro, Lance, and Hunk all hadn’t been able to contact their families, she couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable grieving around them. Their loved ones could still be out there. She watched her brother die in her arms. 

Her hand subconsciously drifted to her pocket where she kept Matt’s glasses. They had buried his body, but she couldn’t put his glasses with him. It was nice to have them to remember him by. She was even able to get rid of their prescription so that she could wear them without ruining her eyes. She did for a little while, but stopped once she saw Shiro’s face. With them on, she was a nearly identical copy of Matt. She just kept the glasses in her pocket instead, only wearing them when she felt at her worst. 

Pidge sneezed a terribly ferocious sneeze. Even though these runs were perfect for giving her time to gather her thoughts and get herself together, she still didn’t particularly enjoy them. Pidge has always despised the outdoors, and being forced to live outside had made her hate it even more. Her pale skin burnt to a crisp when she received the tiniest bit of sunlight, she practically froze to death when the temperature became slightly colder than she was comfortable with, and she was 98% positive that her allergies (not evil aliens) were what would be the death of her. If she had a nickel for every time Shiro had to raid a convenience store to get her some Claritin, she would probably have enough money to pay for all that Claritin. 

“What’s up, Pidgeon?”

Pidge started, tripped over a tree root, and nearly fell flat on her face. She just barely managed to right herself and glared up at the voice that so rudely pulled her from her thoughts. 

Lance was grinning down at her, looking far too pleased with himself, in her opinion. He was perched in a nearby tree holding his favorite rifle, which wasn’t an unusual sight. As their resident sharpshooter, Lance was more often than not on lookout duty, and therefore could usually be found hanging out in any tall place he could find. 

“Aw. What’s with that face?” He said, completely unfazed by her glowering gaze. “Aren’t you happy to see your old pal, Lancey Lance?”

She ignored him, continuing on her way. She wasn’t alone for long, though. Just as soon as she had started, he appeared by her side, his rifle in its place in the strap on his back. 

“Can’t you just leave me alone?” She sighed. 

“You know I can’t,” he sang, ruffling her hair. 

She slapped his hand away. He retaliated by poking her in the side. She slapped him again. He poked her again. They continued this for a bit until their slapping and poking turned into an all-out tickle-war. Lance was surprisingly ticklish, and Pidge was able to get in a few good hits. With his much larger size, though, it was too easy for Lance to gain the upper hand. Before long, he had her pinned on the ground between his legs as he tickled mercilessly her stomach. 

“Okay! Okay!” She managed to gasp out. “I yield! You can walk with me!”

“Now was that so hard?” He laughed, finally ceasing his tickling and giving her a reprieve. 

He suddenly froze and looked down at her with wide eyes, as if just realizing that he was straddling her. His face turned scarlet, and he immediately rolled off of her. Pidge rolled her eyes and got to her feet. It was just a tickle fight. She and Matt used to do those all the time when they were younger. Lance didn’t have to get so worked up about pinning her down. By the time they started walking, though, all that remained of his embarrassment was the light pink that dusted his brown cheeks. As soon as he got to talking, even this pink disappeared. 

She had to admit, even as annoying as he was, she enjoyed being around Lance. Listening to him jabber on about all sorts of nonsensical things almost made her forget about the horror that was her life. After everything they’ve been through, Lance still managed to keep his bright smile. Pidge would always be grateful for that. 

Pidge laughed at one of his particularly stupid jokes as she twirled a strand of her hair around her finger. It was getting a little long, just barely grazing her shoulders. She should probably ask Shay to cut it for her again. 

Shay was the newest member of their group. Hunk had found her a little more than a year ago left near for dead in the woods. Her family had managed to escape the initial Galra attack, but they had only survived for a few months before they were found. Her father and brothers were all killed, but the Galra had taken her mother and sisters with them. They would have taken Shay too, but she had been so badly injured in the fight that they hadn’t bothered. 

Hunk adored the girl right from the start. He would listen intently to everything she said, his eyes would follow her wherever she went, and he was constantly tripping over himself to help her with anything he could. He was enchanted by her. 

The rest of them were a little more skeptical. They didn’t know what exactly to make of this girl. Sure, she was nice, but it was almost creepy. Hunk was already mystifying them with how kind he was. Having another positive person like that around was kind of eerie. She ended up proving her worth, though, when she saved Lance from being mauled by a particularly savage raccoon. She had even teased Lance about it a little, which increased Pidge’s opinion of her tenfold. 

Shay’s hair had already been cut to right under her cheekbones when they had met her. She explained it was much easier to manage when it was that way. After getting her first haircut from the older girl, Pidge couldn’t help but agree. Sure, it made her look more like a boy, but she didn’t care. Ironically, it made her look a lot more like Matt. Pidge wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about that. She mostly just avoided mirrors as much as possible to keep from having to look at herself. 

She caught Lance staring at her out of the corner of her eye. His gaze was fixed on the strand of hair wrapped around her little finger. He seemed to be completely lost in thought, which was proven to be true when he walked right into a tree. Pidge burst out laughing. 

“Watch where you're going, dumbass,” she wheezed in between chuckles. 

Lance rubbed his head, grinning sheepishly and not looking her in the eye. 

Pidge frowned. In all the years she’d known Lance, she had never once seen him act sheepish. Obnoxious? Yes. Flirty? Yes. Persistent? Yes. He was always so sure of himself and did everything with complete confidence, even if he didn’t actually feel that way on the inside. 

Now that she thought about it, Lance had been acting a little strange lately. Always looking to see her reaction whenever he said something that he thought was funny, trying to get her to take someone with her on her walks and runs (almost to an obsessive degree), becoming super flushed whenever something embarrassing happened to him (he used to laugh it off without worry before). 

What was going on with him?

“We should probably start heading back,” he said before she could say anything to him. 

Pidge looked up at the sky, barely visible through the thick canopy of trees. It was starting to get dark. Lance was right. The two of them really should go back. They’d stopped walking around their base quite some time ago, and had just been walking aimlessly in no particular direction, so they were pretty far away. 

She nodded and they turned around. They’d only gone a couple of steps when Lance stopped out of nowhere and jerked his head sharply to look back behind them. 

“Lance?” Pidge asked, completely caught off guard. “What’s the matter?”

Before Lance could answer her, he suddenly screamed “duck!” and pushed her to the ground, partially covering her body with his own and keeping his hand over her head. Seconds later, something shot over their heads and hit the tree behind them. The tree exploded, wood and leaves flying everywhere. Pidge could feel Lance’s body tighten as he shielded her from the debris. 

Pidge’s ears were ringing. Her whole body trembled. Lance pulled her to her feet. She stumbled and he held her arms to help her right herself. 

“Run! We gotta go! Run!” He screamed, pushing her a little to get her moving. 

The two of them ran as fast as they could back to the base. Pidge could hear voices behind her. If she wasn’t so focused on getting to others, she would have been frozen in fear. It was them. 

It was the Galra. 

The footsteps and voices of their pursuers were getting louder. Lance suddenly veered right and started climbing up a tree. 

“What…?” Pidge spluttered. 

“Keep going!” He yelled, waving her on once he got to the nearest branch. “Get to Shiro and the others! I’ll hold them off!”

He grabbed his rifle from the strap on his back and began loading it. Pidge would have argued with him, but she could hear the Galra getting closer and closer. She spared one last look at Lance and took off. 

He’d be okay, she told herself. That was the only thought that kept her going as she ran like a madman through the forest. Lance was like a monkey in those trees. He’d be fine. 

He had to be. 

She lost her brother. She lost her mother and father. She couldn’t lose Lance too. 

“Shiro!” She screamed with the little breath she had left. “Shiro! Hunk! Shay! Shiro!”

She wasn’t even sure that her friends could hear her, but she couldn’t possibly scream any louder. She didn’t have any air left in her lungs. 

A figure appeared ahead of her. 

It was large. Too large to be even Shiro, who towered over her. It’s ears stuck out of its head. The parts of its body that weren’t covered in armor were covered in purple fur. Pidge knew, that if she’d been any closer, she’d be able to see blazing yellow eyes. 

The demon eyes that had haunted her nightmares for two years. 

Pidge stopped dead in her tracks. She gripped her knife at her belt, thankful that Shiro always badgered them about going into the forest with enough weapons. Even so, she felt woefully unprepared for this confrontation. Sure, they trained to fight these monsters. But it was a whole lot different to see them in the flesh. 

“Hello little girl,” the Galra said with a sickening grin, reminding Pidge vividly of the big bad wolf from all those old fairy tales. 

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, tightened her grip on her knife, and forced her body to stop trembling. She couldn’t die here. No. She opened her eyes, staring her opponent down. 

She wouldn’t die here. 

Pidge charged forward. The sudden change seemed to startle the soldier, giving Pidge enough time to slide under his legs and slash at the weak point in his armor behind the knee. He roared and grabbed at her, but she managed to duck away. Pidge tried as best she could to recall everything Shiro had ever told her in training. He always said that because of her small size, her best bet was to act on the defensive and only attack when she knew she could land a blow. 

She danced a safe distance away from the furious Galra, bouncing on her feet as she waited for his next move. He lunged forward and she easily dodged him. He lunged again. She dodged again. They continued this pattern for a while, him unable to lay a hand on her. Unfortunately, Pidge wasn’t able to do any damage either. It was extremely difficult to get at the weak points in his armor, and her knife wasn’t able to cut through the strong points. She was running out of luck. She was already exhausted from running and didn’t know if she’d be able to go on for much longer. 

“Gotcha!” The soldier said, glee evident in his voice as he lifted her off the ground by the back of her t-shirt. 

Pidge punched him in the face as hard as she could. He yowled, dropping her as he clutched at his nose. She rolled away and started running again. She was barely able to enjoy her newfound freedom when she was grabbed by an even larger pair of hands and viciously yanked off the ground. She gasped and tried to fight back, but her arms were trapped and her kicks did nothing against her captors' hard armor. 

“Come on, Snivk,” the newer soldier said, exasperation evident even in his harsh growly voice. “How did you manage to get bested by a small child?” He shook Pidge a little, probably to emphasize his point. 

As the two Galra bickered amongst themselves, Pidge took the time to assess the situation. They had killed her brother right away the last time they had run into the Galra. Why wasn’t she dead yet? They didn’t seem to be interested in killing her. Now that she thought about it, during her fight with the first soldier, he didn’t pull his weapon on her once. She recalled what Shay had told them about her family. The Galra had killed all the men but had taken all the women. 

Pidge’s heart sunk. She knew she should have been happy that the soldiers didn’t seem to want to kill her, but she couldn’t help but think that what she was in for was far worse. 

The first soldier pulled something out of his pocket as the second one tightened his grip on her. She winced. The first soldier raised something to her face. She tried to pull away, but he grabbed her head and forced it into the thing he had pulled from his pocket. She held her breath for as long as she could, but eventually succumbed to the need for air and breathed in a sickeningly sweet scent. She immediately felt her eyes droop and her body go heavy. 

The last thing she saw before falling into the darkness where those yellow eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so happy that so many people seem to like my story! I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!
> 
> I don't own Voltron or any of its characters.

Pidge groaned. Her head felt like it was made of lead. Her throat was dry. Her tongue felt like sandpaper. She blinked, trying to remember what had happened. 

Oh yeah. She had been captured by Galra soldiers, and her friends could be dead. 

Perfect. 

She tried to sit up, only to find that her arms were shackled behind her, making this quite difficult indeed. She ended up succeeding though. A small victory despite everything else. She looked around. She was in a large room, the only source of light coming from weak bulbs hanging from the ceiling with strings that looked as though they were going to snap at any second. There were about 12 other women in the room as well. The oldest looked to be in her forties and the youngest appeared to be in her late teens. Pidge noticed that she was the youngest one there. 

“Ah. Look who’s up?” Came a voice that sent shivers down her spine. 

There were Galra in the room too. Lots of them. Some were guarding the exits, some were talking amongst themselves, and a few were even fondling some of the women in ways that made Pidge sick to her stomach. 

The Galra that spoke leaned down in front of her, piercing her with his demon eyes. Pidge sat up as straight as she could and held his gaze. She didn’t back down, no matter how much she wanted to curl up in the corner and cry. What helped was the fact that she was more angry than scared. She let the fury she felt over everything the Galra did to her and everyone else on Earth wash away her fear. 

“You are a pretty one, aren’t you?” The Galra reaches up to stroke her cheek. 

She spat in his face. 

Gasps filled the room. The other Galra looked shocked. The women looked horrified. The one Galra in front of Pidge looked murderous. He slapped her across the face so hard that she was flung to the floor. She gasped for breath, stars filling her vision. Before she could catch her breath, the Galra grabbed her by the hair and lifted her so that she was on her knees. This forced her to tilt her head back at an awkward, almost painful, angle. She could feel his hot breath on her neck. 

“You’re gonna regret doin’ that little missy,” he said, darkly. 

Pidge felt something wet and slimy on her neck and realized with revolting horror that it was his tongue. He licked from the base of her neck up to her cheek, wiping away tears that she was unaware that she had shed. As his tongue smothered her face, his hands ripped at her shirt, groping her small breasts painfully through her bra. She winced as she felt his claws dig into her skin. 

“I was gonna go easy on ya,” he snarled into her ear. “Make it good so you’d enjoy it.” One of his hands left her chest to travel down to her shorts. “But I don’t think you deserve that anymore.”

Pidge sobbed, unable to keep up her front of being strong. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She wiggled and squirmed against the hulking Galra, to no avail. He forced her shorts down her thighs, eventually tearing them off entirely. 

“Stop!” She cried. “Stop, stop, stop! Let me go! Please let me go! Please don’t do this! Please stop! Stop!” 

The Galra just chuckled, completely ignoring her desperate pleas. He reached between her legs and started aggressively rubbing her through her panties. She trembled and cried out for someone, anyone, to help her. She cried out for Shiro. For Lance. For Hunk and Shay. She even cried for her parents. For Matt. 

But no one came to her aid. 

One of the Galra’s fingers pushed back the fabric of her panties and swiftly entered her. Pidge completely froze, her eyes burned from the pain of the sharp intrusion. It took her a moment to notice that the Galra had frozen as well. She dared to look up into his face. He was glowering, not at her, but another Galra soldier behind him. This newer one had his hand on his comrades’ shoulder, stopping him from continuing to defile Pidge any further. The first Galra grumbled and withdrew his hands from her. Pidge gasped as his finger exited her just as painfully as it had entered. She looked up at the newcomer, the soldier that had saved her. 

He was staring intently at her. His eyes roamed her body, studying her. Pidge curled her legs up to her chest, shuddering. The new soldier suddenly pushed his finger into her just as the other Galra had. Pidge barely had time to cry out in pain before he had taken his finger away. She took deep breaths, trying to calm herself. He gave her one last look before turning to face the rest of the room. 

“This one is untouched. She is not to be tampered with.” 

Many soldiers looked extremely disappointed at that statement. A couple of them surrounded the soldier, barraging him with pleas to just ‘play with her a little.’

Pidge vaguely heard him say, “It’s already been a month. Surely he’s broken his last one by now. He may want her. Just leave her be until the next auction.”

While Pidge was thankful for her status as a virgin (something she never thought that she’d need to be thankful for) she couldn’t help but feel as though she was in for something much worse because of it. She took a deep breath. She had to calm down somehow. Something brushed against her legs as she moved them out in front of her. Her shorts. After trying her best to slide them back into her legs to no avail, Pidge slumped in defeat, her body trembling. She wanted nothing more than to be held by her mother, her father, Matt, Shiro...pretty much any of her loved ones, to be honest. 

A new idea popped into Pidge’s head. She moved the shorts around so that they were within reach of her hands, found the right pocket, and pulled Matt’s glasses out of it. After some finagling and maneuvering her body around, she was finally able to push them onto her face. She banged her nose into the ground a few times, but she managed. 

Having the glasses on didn’t help her situation in any way, but it did give her some small piece of comfort. 

—————————————————————

One of the benefits of having taken over the world was that Keith was free to go outside. The years he had spent on Earth before that had him confined strictly to the indoors. Zarkon wanted him and Lotor to get used to life on earth, which consisted of lessons learning about earth’s history and watching lots of tv to get caught up with the current news. 

Keith spent most of the tv time watching a particularly gripping show called Grey’s Anatomy. 

The emperor had insisted that the two boys stay inside, as he didn’t want Earth to have any warning of the impending invasion. They both had followed the rules for a while. After a couple of months though, they were thoroughly bored with the indoors. They both snuck out multiple times before the invasion. However, the two of them got up to many different things. 

Keith took walks around the building they lived in, enjoying the feeling of the fresh air and sun on his skin. Lotor kidnapped Earthen girls to be his slaves. 

After the invasion, the princes were free to go out as they pleased. This made Keith extremely happy. Earth was beautiful, and he took any opportunity he could to go outside and enjoy it. 

This outside venue, however, was not one he wanted to be at. 

Keith crossed his arms and slid down as much as he could into his chair. There were a hundred different places he would rather be for his 18th birthday than a slave auction. Lotor had insisted on it though. He hadn’t been able to go to a slave auction for his 18th birthday, so he had insisted that his younger brother should have the experience that he never could. Keith believed that his brother just wanted to torture him as much as possible. 

“I can’t wait for this all to start,” Lotor said from his place beside Keith. The two of them were in reserved seats in the back: Lotor’s private seating area. The white-haired prince certainly looked at home here. “I recently broke my most recent toy and am in desperate need of a new one. I hope they have a good selection this time.” His blue eyes twinkled with mirth. 

Keith’s stomach churned. He despised slaves. Every time he saw one, he was reminded of the red-haired girl he saw four years ago, beaten to a bloody pulp by his brother’s hands. He couldn’t have counted the number of slaves Lotor went through if he tried. His thoughts went to his parents. His father. 

Yep, Lotor definitely brought him here to torture him. 

The announcer came out onstage to wild applause, and the auction began. Girl after girl was brought onstage, each in various stages of undress. One was completely naked. Keith averted his eyes during that bidding, which went on for longer than any before it. The auctioneers appeared to have a strategy. Each girl that came onstage was either younger or prettier than the one before her. This appeared to be working. The bids went higher and higher. The crowd became crazier and crazier. 

After a while, Keith looked over at his brother. He was surprised that Lotor hadn’t bid once the entire auction. He looked amused, but also completely uninterested. Noticing that he was being watched, Lotor glanced over at his brother and smirked. 

“Are you enjoying yourself, brother?” Lotor asked, looking at Keith intently. 

“Not particularly,” Keith answered honestly. 

“I can’t say I blame you. This selection has been rather bland. I was hoping for…”

A huge roar from the crowd interrupted Lotor’s words. Keith started, looking around at the crowd that was more alive and excited than it had been the whole night (which he wasn’t sure was even possible). He turned back to his brother to ask what had happened, but Lotor’s eyes were completely fixated on the stage. Keith turned his head and immediately saw what had captured his brother’s attention. 

Standing on the stage was an incredibly small girl, tinier than any that had been shown so far. She looked minuscule next to the hulking form of the auctioneer beside her. Her hair was brown and short, surrounding her petite, elf-like face in a halo. Round glasses covered her golden-brown eyes, which were so huge, that Keith could see them clearly from where he was sitting. His breath caught in his chest. Those eyes, even though they were filled with anger, were stunning. 

Lotor licked his lips as he stared intently at the girl, and Keith knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that this girl would be coming home with them. The slave traders must have been ecstatic when they picked her up, for it was a well-known fact that Lotor had a fascination with small girls. The tinier and younger the better. The girl on the stage looked so unbelievably young. She couldn’t be more than 14, Keith thought with a sinking feeling in his stomach. He couldn’t stand seeing slave children around the palace, and the fact that this girl would end up being the property of his twisted older brother made him feel sick. 

It took Keith a moment to realize that the girl was moving. He should have noticed this much earlier as it was a complete contrast to how every other person before her stood still and quiet, their only movements being their shaking from fear.  
This girl was twisting around in her bonds, desperately trying to free herself from them. Her face was scrunched up, and she was shouting and yelling behind the gag that had been fastened over her mouth (another thing Keith should have noticed, as none of the others had been gagged either). 

If his suspicions weren’t confirmed before, they certainly were now. While most Galra would be opposed to having a disobedient slave, Lotor actively looked for the spirited ones. He claimed that the most entertaining part of having a slave was breaking them, was watching the will to go on leaving their eyes. 

‘I recently broke my most recent toy and am in desperate need of a new one.’

Lotor’s words kept filling Keith’s head. 

“Now for our final selection!” The announcer roared over the insane crowd. “A feisty youngster, 15 years of age, so far untamable. And here’s a treat for you all, she’s completely untouched!”

Now wasn’t that just the cherry on top. Of course, being as young as she was, anyone would have guessed that she was a virgin. Having confirmation was nice, though. The crowd was beside themselves, shouting out bids before the auctioneer even announced the starting amount. Keith looked at his brother again. 

‘I recently broke my most recent toy and am in desperate need of a new one.’

Lotor stood up. The entire arena went silent. Even the girl on stage froze. She must have realized that this person was important. Her wild brown eyes flickered for just a moment. At that moment, Keith could see how terrified she was. 

‘I recently broke my most recent toy and am in desperate need of a new one.’

“50,000 GAC!” Lotor’s voice rang through the crowd. No one dared to make another bid against him. 

‘I recently broke my most recent toy and am in desperate need of a new one.’

“Going once with 50,000 GAC to Prince Lotor!” The auctioneer looked positively elated at how much this girl was giving him. 

‘I recently broke my most recent toy and am in desperate need of a new one.’

“Going twice!”

‘I recently broke my most recent toy and am in desperate need of a new one.’ 

“100,000 GAC!”

Everyone’s eyes turned to look at the now standing Keith. Keith didn’t look at his brother, who he knew was fuming. He stood tall and impassive, not allowing anyone to see the complete and utter panic he was feeling inside at what he had just done. 

“200,000 GAC!”

“300,000!”

“400,000!”

“500,000!”

Keith could feel Lotor’s rage boiling off of him. He didn’t know why he kept bidding. The rational part of his brain was telling him to stop, to stop provoking his brothers' wrath. The completely stupid part of him, though, refused to give up. He knew for sure that he didn’t want Lotor to have this girl. The mere thought of his brother laying his hands on her made his stomach churn. 

‘I recently broke my most recent toy and am in desperate need of a new one.’

“Sold to Prince Keith for 1,000,000 GAC!” 

Keith blinked in disbelief. He did it. He outbid Lotor. He had beaten his brother for the first time in his life. He looked down at his shaking hands. They briefly flickered from purple to pale white and back again. He dared a glance at Lotor. His brother looked impassive. Any outside observer would just assume that he had lost interest and didn’t care anymore. Keith, on the other hand, knew his brother. He knew what he was conveying with the slightest of facial expressions. 

Keith was going to pay dearly for what he had just done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that I said in this chapter that Pidge was both 14 and 15, and I want to clarify something. She IS 15 years old. She just looks a lot younger than she is, and Keith just assumed that she was 14. 
> 
> I just wanted to make sure that no one was confused. 😄


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your lovely comments and for leaving kudos. It means the world! I hope you enjoy Kidge's meeting!
> 
> I do not own Voltron or any of its characters.

Pidge curled up as best she could in the center of the room. It was large. Larger than any bedroom she had ever seen. It made sense, though, as it belonged to a prince. Her new owner. 

She shuddered at the thought, still trying to process all that had happened. After what had seemed like forever in the holding area, she and the other soon-to-be-slaves were brought to the auction. They were all bathed, cleaned, and dressed however the auction workers chose. Some were able to keep their clothes, others were stripped naked entirely. Pidge was thankful that she at least got to stay in her underwear and that they let her keep her glasses. 

She had tried to bite multiple Galra numerous times, mouthed off to them, and cussed at them frequently. She wasn’t surprised that they had gagged her. It gave her just a little bit of pride to know that she had annoyed them so much. She had to thank Lance for teaching her how to be as obnoxious as possible. 

Lance. 

Her heart ached just thinking about him and the rest of her friends. Were they looking for her? Were they dead? She shook her head. Her heart couldn’t bear such a though. She was brought back into her horrible reality by the opening of the door. She glared her fiercest glare at the prince that bought her. 

She remembered seeing him at the auction. He didn’t seem as though he wanted to be there (she could relate) but he worked so hard to get her anyway. Why did he do that? She had to admit that she was thankful she wasn’t going with the other prince, the one with the long white hair. She didn’t know why, but she felt more uneasy about him than any of the other Galra she had seen (including the one who tried to rape her). Everything about him screamed “danger!” and she didn’t doubt her instincts. 

She eyed the younger prince as he made his way slowly towards her, not in an intimidating way, more like he was unsure of what to do. She was surprised by how young he looked. He only seemed a few years older than her, around Lance and Hunks’ age. His hair was dark and a little long, though not nearly as long as his brothers. If she was being honest, they looked nothing alike. She was surprised that they were related. 

He bent down to her level, not looking her in the eye. She kept her gaze on his face, unwilling to back down. 

“They say you bite,” he said. Pidge jumped at the lack of harshness in his voice. He sounded like a normal teenager. “If I take off your gag, will you promise not to bite me?” 

He looked her in the eyes for the first time and Pidge sucked in a breath. They weren’t the demonic yellow that she had come to associate with the Galra, but a beautiful violet color. There was something other-worldly about them. It wasn’t anything bad, per se (on the contrary, they were the most gorgeous eyes she had ever seen) they just definitely weren’t human. 

He must have taken her lack of a response as a yes because he reached around to undo her gag. She stretched her aching jaw. She had no idea how long she had worn that thing, but it was long enough to cause her pain. The prince shuffled behind her and uncuffed her hands. She rubbed her wrists. They were red and sore. He moved back around so that he was in front of her again and sat on his heels. They both stayed in silence for a while. 

“What’s your name?” He finally asked. 

“None of your goddamn business,” she spat at him. Sure, this Galra seemed nice enough, but he was still part of the race that killed her family (as well as hundreds of thousands of others) and enslaved her. She didn’t feel bad about being rude to him. 

He blinked, but that was the only indication he gave that he was surprised. “You can call me Keith,” he said. 

“I think I’ll just call you dickwad.”

Keith just nodded, as if he didn’t expect anything less. “Is there anything I can get you?”

“Yes, my freedom.”

Keith at least had the decency to look ashamed. “Uh. Sorry. I can’t do that. You’d just get caught again, and then you’d probably go to my brother.” 

“How do you know I’d get caught?” She narrowed her eyes at him. 

“Well, you did get captured before,” he said, good-naturedly. “That’s why you’re here in the first place.” 

Pidge threw the cuffs that he had left beside her at him. He caught them before they could hit him in the face. After staring at her for a moment, he calmly got up and walked to the door. 

“I’ll send someone for you with some food,” was all he said before he left. 

Pidge blinked, unsure of what to make of him. His calm demeanor was annoying. She wished that he would get worked up. Then, at least, she’d feel as if she were doing something. 

She went over and tried the door. It was locked. Of course. She looked around the room and spotted a vase full of flowers on the prince’s bedside table. 

She grinned. 

A few minutes later, the door opened and a Galra stepped through holding a tray of food. He barely had time to blink and look around at the seemingly empty room before Pidge flew out from behind the door and smashed the vase in his face. The Galra crumpled like a rock. Pidge froze for a split second. She couldn’t believe that worked!

She rolled the Galra over, looking for anything that she could use as a weapon. Unfortunately, this Galra seemed to be nothing more than a lowly food server. She grabbed the tray (better than nothing) and made her way out the door. 

She had been blindfolded when they had brought her to the room, so she had no idea where she was. It appeared to be some sort of grand hotel. She looked around, completely lost. 

Pidge ran down hallway after hallway, unable to find any sort of exit. She was suddenly grabbed by the arm and pulled against someone much bigger than her. She squealed in surprise, dropping the tray. They clamped one hand over her mouth, the other arm tight around her chest. She managed to look up and catch a glimpse of Keith’s angry face. 

“You idiot!” He hissed at her, looking positively furious, a stark contrast to the calm persona that she had witnessed earlier. “Do you have any idea of what you just did? Of what could have happened?” 

He dragged her back to the room. She kicked and screamed behind his hands, but it did nothing to slow him down. He wrenched open the door and threw her on the bed. 

“You idiot! You complete idiot! Don’t you dare do anything like that again! You hear? You…!”

He seemed to run out of words because he stood there with his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. Finally, he stormed out of the room and slammed the door shut. 

—————————————————————

This girl was going to be the death of him. 

She was a complete and utter nightmare. Every time he went to visit her, she was cursing at him, throwing things at him, or just plain annoying him with snarky comments. She even spat at him! He didn’t know what he was expecting when he bought her. Maybe some appreciation for saving her from a fate worse than death by being his brother’s slave? Whatever it was, it certainly wasn’t this. 

It also didn’t help that she attempted to escape practically every time he turned his back on her. She had knocked out so many of the food deliverers (even a couple of human slaves) that he had to bring her food himself. He didn’t know why he bothered feeding her at all, she ended up throwing most of it at him anyway. She almost gave him a heart attack one day by attempting to climb through the vents. Every time she escaped, though, he caught her mere moments after. It was starting to be a real pain. A small part of him wondered if he should just give up entirely and hand her over to Lotor. 

No. 

He’d never do that. No matter what she did, he’d never give her to his monster of an adoptive brother. She may be annoying, but he was starting to enjoy it despite himself. Her fire brought light to his otherwise completely dull world. As the days went on, he started finding her more and more endearing. 

The first time he found her sleeping, he couldn’t help but watch. She was so tiny. Yes, she was tiny when she was awake, but she seemed even smaller asleep. She was curled up on his bed, snuggling into one of his pillows, making soft noises of content in her sleep. He studied her face. She looked so peaceful, so at ease without a single care in the world. 

So young. 

He hadn’t realized before that a smattering of freckles dusted her face. Her dark lashes fluttered against her cheeks as she dreamed. Her lips were slightly parted. He wondered if they were as soft as they looked. She was beautiful. He found himself watching her more and more when she slept. He knew that it was creepy, but he couldn’t help it. When she slept, it was the only time she wasn’t yelling at him. 

Today, though, she had really done it. Keith reached his room to find the door wide open. His heart sunk. How had she possibly managed that? He ran inside. Sure enough, she was gone. He looked around, stopping cold when he saw that the lock mechanism on the door had been cut open. She must have saved one of the knives he had brought her with her dinner. As he neared the door, he caught a glimpse of the wires inside. She had definitely messed around with them. They were all over the place. How she knew how to get the door open like that, he had no idea. What mattered was that she had escaped, and had done a really good job of it this time. 

He burst out of the room, unsure of where to start looking. All the other times she escaped, she had used means that he was expecting. He definitely wasn’t expecting this. He wondered if he should ask for help finding her but quickly decided against it. 

If he asked for help, his father and Lotor would surely find out about her being missing and start looking for her themselves. His father had already heard all about his unruly slave and hadn’t been happy at all. If his father found her, she’d be punished severely. If Lotor found her... he didn’t even want to think about that prospect. 

He had to find her himself.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so happy that you guys seemed to like how Pidge and Keith met! Considering the circumstances, we couldn't have them get along right away. 😉
> 
> I do not own Voltron or any of its characters.

Pidge ran as fast as she could, clutching the knife tightly in her hand. She still couldn’t believe that she had escaped. What was more surprising was the fact that Keith hadn’t found her yet. She honestly expected him to catch her rather quickly like he had every other time. She must have surprised him. 

Unfortunately, the element of surprise would only get her so far. She still had no idea where she was and was pretty much defenseless, wearing only Matt’s glasses and the small brown dress that the prince had given her a few days ago after one of her escape attempts. The fabric was flimsy and barely came down to her thighs, but it was better than just being in her underwear. 

She wondered why he had given it to her. Surely he’d want her in a more vulnerable state as his slave, and it wasn’t as if he had given it to her as a reward. She had been nothing but rude to him so far. She still couldn’t get a read on the guy. One minute he was annoyed with her, the next he acted as though she didn’t bother him at all. Then there was the clothing, and letting her take baths, and making sure she was well fed. 

What was with him?

No matter. If this escape was successful, she wouldn’t have to worry about him anymore. She peered around a corner. It was empty. She had been extremely lucky so far, only running into a few Galra, and she had easily hidden from them behind the many potted plants that adorned the hallways. 

Who knew that these evil aliens were so into gardening? 

With the coast clear, she carefully stepped out into the hallway. There had to be some stairs around here somewhere. She knew she was up high, so she had to find some way to get to the ground floor and get out of here. 

“Now isn’t this a surprise?” Came a smooth, silky voice. 

Pidge whirled around. Behind her was the white-haired prince. She held her knife out in front of her, her hands shaking slightly. 

“Don’t come any closer,” she ordered, thankful that her voice didn’t tremble. 

The prince looked amused at her show of bravery. He ignored her and stepped closer. She backed up until her back hit the wall behind her. She gulped and stared up into his piercing gaze. He had blue eyes, but where there would normally be whites, was the gleaming yellow that every other Galra had. Other than Keith, at least. 

He was tall. Taller than his brother, but not quite as tall as the many Galra soldiers she had the displeasure of encountering. Still, though, he towered over her. He grinned down at her. She noted that his incisors were slightly pointed. 

Like a vampire, she thought humorlessly. 

“What might a little thing like you be doing out and about?” He purred, one of his hands reaching out to hold a piece of her hair. Pidge shuddered despite herself. She held her knife to his chest, but he didn’t seem bothered by it in the slightest. 

“I thought you were supposed to be in my brother’s room.” He lifted the piece of her hair to his nose, leaning down a bit so that it could reach. 

Taking advantage of his closer face, Pidge whipped up the knife towards it. His other hand shot out and wrapped tightly around her wrist. She looked up at him, her eyes wide. He grinned and squeezed his hand. She gasped in pain and dropped the knife. He let go of her hair to grab her other hand, placing them both against the wall so that they were on either side of her head. 

“Now that wasn’t very nice,” he tutted. 

Pidge couldn’t move. She could barely breathe. He was so close. He leaned down so that his face was a hair’s breadth away from hers. He nuzzled his nose against her cheek. She squeaked in surprise. She could feel the breath of his laugh against her ear. 

“Mmmmm,” he hummed. “So soft.” 

She tried to push against his hands, but it was like trying to move stone. She blanched when she felt him lick her ear. His tongue was wet and slimy and made her want to barf. He moved back a little so that they were eye to eye. She glared at him with as much force as she could muster. He smiled his sadistic smile in response. She felt her arms being pulled up above her head so far that she was forced to stand on her toes. He adjusted his hands so that he was holding both of her wrists in one, leaving the other free to do as he pleased. 

The older prince held her chin in his hand and lifted it slightly. He looked intently at her face as if he were studying it. Pidge could feel his thumb brush back and forth against her cheek. 

Suddenly, he was walking at a brisk pace down the hall. As his hand was still firmly holding both her wrists in its grasp, Pidge was forced to stumble along after him. With his longer legs, he walked much faster than she did, and she was practically dragged along behind him. 

Before she knew it, she was in a room nearly identical to Keith’s. On further inspection, though, she could see that this was clearly a different room. The walls were lined with ropes and chains. There was a stand in the corner that just held a bunch of whips. More chains hung from the ceiling. An X-shaped stand was attached to one of the walls. 

Pidge was shaking, her breathing coming out in short, fast breaths. The prince pulled her over to his bed. She dug her heels into the floor, but it did less than nothing. He lifted her, laying her gently on the bed. She squirmed and kicked out at him, but he easily dodged her blows. He moved over her, knees on either side of her waist. He fastened manacles to her wrists, which he then lifted and attached to the headboard. 

He sat back and looked at her, eyes gleaming. Pidge sobbed. She shook her head, tugged her arms, kicked her legs. Nothing. She couldn’t do anything. She was so unbelievably trapped. 

The prince moved down her body. She felt him pull apart her legs. She tried as best she could to wrench them from his grip to no avail. More manacles were attached to her ankles, keeping her legs spread wide. Pidge choked when she felt his hands on her legs. She felt him move them from her shins, up to her thighs, and back down again. His thumbs brushed her inner thighs as they moved up, so very close to the edge of the dress she wore. 

Then he was on his feet. She watched as he circled the bed predatorily, looking at her hungrily. His hand would occasionally reach out to graze her body as he circled her, but other than that, he didn’t touch her. Tears streamed down Pidge’s face. He caught one on his finger, looking at it for a moment before putting it in his mouth. He groaned, sucking on the finger. Then he had his tongue on her face, licking up her tears until she had no more left to shed. 

His tongue moved down to her neck. Licking, sucking, and biting at the pale flesh there. He was straddling her again, his hands on either side of her as he ravaged her neck. Pidge gasped when she felt her dress being suddenly torn off of her. She glanced up. The prince was holding the shredded fabric of the garment, his eyes roaming her body, looking at her as if she were a meal. 

His hands were on her again. One was stroking her belly. The other was just under her chest, playing with the elastic of the training bra she had worn since she was 13. Her breasts were small, barely an a-cup, but they had still grown enough in those two years that they were starting to strain against the material. It made them look bigger than they were, and they were all that the prince seemed able to focus on. His eyes were fixated on the small mounds. Pidge knew it was only a matter of seconds before he touched them. 

No sooner had that idea entered her thoughts, did it come true. The prince stroked and squeezed her breasts, pushing them together, rolling them in his hands. He seemed to quickly tire of her bra being in the way, so he ripped it off of her. His hands were kneading them again. She gasped when she felt her bare nipples against the palms of his hands. This gasp turned into a scream when he grabbed her nipples and twisted them. He only held them like that for a moment before quickly stopping, massaging them as if to apologize for the rough treatment. 

One of his hands left her breast to venture lower down her body. His mouth quickly took its place, sucking and biting at the supple flesh. She squeaked when she felt him take her nipple into his mouth and suck it. His lower hand dipped into her panties. He rubbed her. His finger entered her and she choked. It hurt so bad. 

Suddenly, he was off of her. Pidge blinked, wondering what had stopped him from violating her any further. Her heart stopped when she saw him undressing. He was back over her. Her underwear was ripped away. They were both completely bare, and she was so utterly vulnerable. 

“Don’t worry now, kitten,” the prince said, his eyes gleaming. “I won’t try to hurt you too much, this time.” 

Pidge’s breaths were coming out in short, quick gasps. The world around her seemed to spin. Her eyes darted wildly around the room. She felt like she was going to pass out. The prince’s hands ran all along her body. He squeezed her sides so hard that she could practically feel the bruises forming. His nails dug into her thighs and breasts. 

The door to the room flung open with such force that the entire bed shook. The prince above her whirled his entire upper body to face it, and Pidge lifted her head as much as she could to do the same. 

Keith stood in the doorway, and he looked murderous. His hands were twitching, his shoulders trembled, his eyes glared so fiercely at his older brother that Pidge thought for a moment that he was looking into his soul. 

“What are you doing with my slave, Lotor?” Keith asked, his voice strangely calm despite his furious demeanor. 

“She was wandering around in the corridors,” the elder prince replied. “So I assumed that you had tired of her and she was fair game.” Despite his nonchalant tone, Pidge could feel that he had tensed up above her. 

“Well, you thought wrong.” Keith stepped into the room, seemingly unconcerned with seeing his brother (and his slave, for that matter) completely nude. 

“Oh really?” Lotor leaned back on his heels. “Then that must mean she escaped the confines of your room on her own accord. Surely that can’t be the case?” He grinned. 

Keith said nothing to this statement. 

“Are you telling me that you were outwitted by a young human girl?” Lotor continued. “Father won’t be pleased. How utterly embarrassing for you. The second prince of the Galra Empire, unable to control one, measly little slavegirl.” He pinched Pidge’s cheek rather harshly. She winced in pain. 

“Shut up,” Keith growled, stepped closer to the pair of them. 

“I hear that she has been a bit bothersome to you,” Lotor said. “Perhaps you should let me take her off your hands? I bet I could have her whipped into shape in a matter of days.”

“Shut up!” Keith yelled, charging forward, stopping so that his face was only inches away from his brother’s. 

Lotor didn’t even flinch. The two brothers stared each other down, neither of them making a move. Finally, Lotor rolled off of Pidge, sauntered to one side of his room, and plopped down in a red leather armchair, not even bothering to hide his modesty from either of Keith’s or Pidge’s gazes. 

Keith glared at his brother for a few seconds. When it became clear that Lotor wasn’t going to do anything, he finally turned his attention to Pidge. His eyes ran over her, not in the hungry way that Lotor’s did, though. Pidge could somehow tell that he was just checking that she was okay. His fingers brushed over her skin, millimeters away from touching her. His eyes finally met hers, and Pidge was shocked by just how much fear she saw in them. She could tell from his wide orbs that she had worried him. 

Just as soon as he looked at her, he pulled his gaze away. Pidge blinked, trying to clear her mind of his violet eyes, so open and vulnerable at that moment. Her hands were free, and soon after, her ankles. She rubbed her wrists, hissing when her hands disturbed the newly formed wounds there. She hadn’t even realized that she had cut herself from struggling. 

She jumped when she felt a sheet being draped over her shoulders. She looked up, but Keith didn’t return her gaze. She drew the sheet around herself. 

“Can you stand?” He asked softly. 

She nodded, sliding off the bed. The minute her toes touched the floor, her knees buckled underneath her. Keith swooped in and caught her immediately. He moved his arms around as if to carry her, but she grabbed his arm. His head snapped up to stare at her. She looked intently at him, darted her eyes to where Lotor sat, then returned her gaze to Keith. He nodded in understanding, offering her his arm. She took it and used it to pull herself up. The two of them made their way to the door, Pidge shuffling along as best she could. When they made it to the door, she dared to look back at Lotor, against her better judgment. The older prince was still sitting in his chair, seemingly without a care in the world, but the look he gave her sent shivers down her spine. She immediately turned her head away. 

Right when they made it out the door, Keith pulled it shut with almost as much force as he had opened it. Out of sight of Lotor, Pidge allowed herself to collapse against Keith. He swept his arm under her knees and lifted her, bridal style. Pidge leaned her head against his shoulder, finally able to take in a good breath. 

Keith shook his head as he made his way back to his room. “Idiot,” he breathed. 

That was all he said, and Pidge didn’t try to continue the conversation. He called her “idiot” a few more times after that. While he was cleaning her wounds, while he bandaged them, and when he threw another small brown dress at her, to name a few. 

After he made sure she was tucked nicely in his bed, he turned around to walk out the door. He always did that, running off to who knows where after putting her to sleep. She never bothered to ask where he went, as she didn’t really care, but she surprised herself by being disappointed to see him go. 

“Wait,” she said, speaking for the first time since being rescued. He paused, but only barely glanced back at her. “Please don’t go.” She hated how desperate she sounded, but was too tired at the same time to care. “I don't want to be alone right now.” 

Keith turned fully around like that. After a moment of deciding what to do, he crossed to the couch on the other side of the room and prepared to lay down on it. 

Pidge spoke up again “Actually,” she gulped before continuing “Could you stay with me?” She gestured to the empty spot on the large bed beside her. 

“Are you serious?” Keith asked her, incredulously. 

She nodded, though had no idea why on earth she had asked him to sleep beside her. His brother just tried to rape her mere moments before, and now she was inviting him into bed with her? Was she insane?

Maybe, but she couldn’t imagine trying to fall asleep alone, and he was her only option for company. Looking into his eyes as he made his hesitant way toward her, she wasn’t feeling any sort of dread. On the contrary, she felt completely safe with Keith, which only proved to baffle her even more. 

Keith climbed into the bed, careful to leave plenty of space between them. “Idiot,” he muttered as he pulled the covers over himself. 

“Pidge,” she said. 

“What’s that?”

“Something for you to call me other than idiot,” she replied with a small smile. 

Keith didn’t say anything for a while. Pidge almost wondered if he had fallen asleep when he finally said, “okay,” with a hint of a smile in his voice. 

Pidge grinned as she fell into the best sleep she had in a long time.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reading all of your comments gives me life! Thank you so much for all of the love and support! I hope you enjoy this chapter! 
> 
> I do not own Voltron or any of its characters.

Pidge’s eyes felt as though they had been glued shut. She groaned and twisted around in the bed, not wanting to wake from the best sleep she had had in years. She found herself laying on her back, staring up at the ceiling. She tried to process everything that had happened the night before. She had escaped, nearly been raped, saved by Keith, and then proceeded to invite her rescuer into bed with her (who was still part of the race of evil aliens that took over her planet, despite having helped her). 

She groaned and put her hands over her face. What was wrong with her?

She looked over at where Keith had been sleeping beside her and froze. Her heart seemed to stop beating in her chest. 

There was a human boy asleep next to her. 

She hadn’t realized that her shock had caused her to let out a small scream until the boy flew out of the bed, looking around wildly for the cause of her yell. Unable to find anything, he turned back to face her. The moment he did, Pidge gasped. 

The human boy was Keith. 

The longer she looked at him, the clearer it became. His skin was pale and his ears weren’t pointy, but he still had the same mop of black hair. The same scowl. The same violet eyes that continued to take her breath away when they made contact with her own. 

“What is it? What’s wrong?” He demanded. 

Pidge just shook her head at him. Unable to process what she was seeing, much less speak. Keith frowned at her. He stepped back, giving her space. Pidge realized that he must have thought that she was horrified to wake up to him beside her. 

“Look at your hand,” she said, shakily. She didn’t want him to think that. She couldn’t say why, but she just didn’t. 

He did as he was told, his eyes widening in understanding. 

“Oh,” he said quietly. “That happens sometimes.” He closed his eyes in concentration. Pidge watched the purple pigmentation returned to his skin and his ears regained their pointy shape. When the transition was finished, he opened his eyes. Pidge found a strange comfort in the fact that the violet orbs stayed the same. 

“It’s been a while since I fully transformed, though.”

“Can all Galra do that?” Pidge asked. 

“No,” he shifted in place, looking uncomfortable. “Just me.”

“Why?” 

Keith sighed, running his fingers through his hair, just messing it up even more. Despite herself, Pidge thought it was kind of cute. Just a tiny tiny bit, though. 

“It’s a long story…”

“I’ve got nothing else planned for today.”

He grinned, letting out a small breath of a chuckle as he did so. Pidge noticed that his incisors were sharpened, like his brother’s. They strangely didn’t bother her, though. 

She tapped a spot on the bed in front of her, scooting back and sitting criss-cross applesauce. Keith joined her, still looking apprehensive. He chose to not sit criss-cross applause, opting instead to keep his legs dangling over the edge of the bed. Probably so that he could make a quick getaway if he wanted to. 

“Well,” he began. “For starters, I’m not fully Galra, only half. My mother was Galra and my father was human.”

Pidge blinked. “But I thought your father…” 

“Emperor Zarkon is my uncle. My mother’s brother. He took me in as his own after my mother died.” 

“Does that mean your brother...?”

“Lotor’s not my brother,” Keith snarled. The mere mention of the first prince seemed to anger him. “Not entirely. He’s my adoptive brother. And cousin,” he added as if an afterthought. 

Pidge sat in stunned silence. Keith was looking at his hands, which were fidgeting in his lap. 

“How did your…? I mean…how could you be half human and half Galra?”

Keith didn’t say anything. Pidge was afraid she’d overstepped her boundaries and was about to quickly tell him never mind.

“The Galra had been coming to Earth for years, decades before the invasion,” Keith started to Pidge’s surprise. She was sure he wasn’t going to answer her. 

“They would send troops to the ground to scout areas, trying to see where the perfect places to strike would be. They studied the humans. Watched how they fought one another. Came up with theories on how they would react, on how they would fight back. My mother was in charge of one of those scouting missions. They were sent to watch an American Air Force base. My father was there. He was a pilot. My mother became very interested in him. She said she loved to watch him fly.”

“There was a training accident one day. My father was mistakenly shot down by a fellow pilot and fell miles away from their base. My mother was near where he had fallen, and pulled him out of the wreckage and tended his wounds until reinforcements arrived.”

“Why would she do that?” Pidge asked without thinking. 

“She said that she couldn’t stand to see such a talented flier die in such a way,” Keith said with a shrug. 

“Things went sour for my mother’s team not long after that. They were spotted by some of the Air Force and were attacked. My mother was shot and separated from everyone else. She was gravely wounded and would have died if it weren’t for my father. He was the one who found her. He remembered that she had saved him, so he spared her and bandaged her wounds.”

“Well that was stupid of him,” Pidge said without thinking. “How could he have known for sure that she was the same alien who saved him? For all he knew, every Galra looked the same. And even if he knew for sure that she was the same one, how could he have known that she wouldn’t come back to kill him or something in the future? Yeah, she saved him, but she’s still an alien. He was part of the military, for God’s sake! Aren’t they supposed to be smarter than that?”

Pidge was cut off by the sound of Keith’s laughter. She looked down at her hands. 

“Sorry,” she said, sheepishly. 

“No, no. You’re good,” Keith said, still chuckling. “That was pretty idiotic of him to do that, you’re right. My mom told him that too.” A wistful look grew on Keith’s face. “He still did it, though. After that, they’d find chances to sneak away and meet up. They were curious about each other. They talked and, well,” Keith’s face turned a little red. “They fell in love.”

Pidge rather liked the way Keith looked when he was flushed from talking about love. She could tell it was a topic he didn’t think of, much less speak about, often. It was endearing. 

Keith cleared his throat. “A while later, my mother found out that she was pregnant with me. She knew she had to get as far away from my father as possible, for his sake. She left without saying goodbye and told me that was her only regret of their time together.”

“For years, no one learned of my mother and fathers’ relationship. My mother feared they would learn of it once I was born, but I looked just like any normal Galra. I was a bit smaller than usual, but I was still purple. They never would have found out at all if it weren’t for Lotor.”

Keith clenched his hand in a fist. 

“Lotor always knew that there was something different about me,” he said through gritted teeth. “My mother told me everything when I was about six or so, but we were careful not to let anyone else know. Lotor wouldn’t stop pestering me, trying to get me to tell him who my father was. My mother told everyone that he was one of her teammates who died during the mission. They all believed her, but Lotor suspected that he was human. He did everything he could to try and expose me as half-human. My mother told me not to worry, that Lotor would soon tire of his little game and move on to something else.”

“He didn’t. One day, he managed to somehow get ahold of a video of a human. I don’t know how, but he did and he showed it to me. It was my first time ever seeing one, and I turned. I had never done it before, and it completely confirmed Lotor’s suspicions. He dragged me to Zarkon, who locked me in my room. I was so scared. I didn’t know what they were going to do. I was sure they would kill me.”

“The next day came, and my door was unlocked. When I walked around, everyone treated me normally. It was like nothing had changed. I had almost assumed that Zarkon decided it wasn’t a big deal when Lotor came up to me. He had the biggest grin on his face and I knew something horrible had happened. He told me with that same big grin that we were going to be brothers and, ‘oh wasn’t that wonderful?’” 

“They killed my mother. Not only did they kill her, they erased her from their history. It was like she never existed. No one spoke of her, every image of her was destroyed, and they all acted as though I had always been Zarkon’s second son.” 

There were tears in Keith’s eyes now. “I was only eight years old.” He put his head in his hands, his body trembling as though he was trying to stop himself from bursting into tears. 

Pidge was speechless. She couldn’t find anything to say to that. What could she say? After possibly an hour of complete silence, Pidge finally spoke up. 

“I lost my mother too. In the invasion. My father and brother also died. As did all of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. I think my brother’s death was the hardest cause I watched it happen. Afterward, I would constantly tell myself that I could have done something. That I could have prevented it. Maybe I could have, I don’t know.”

“I’m sorry,” Keith said in a low, gravelly voice, without lifting his head. 

“I’m not asking for an apology,” she said. “I’m just letting you know that I’ve lost people too and that I can understand how you feel. There were times I didn’t feel like going on with my life, and I don’t think I would have if it weren’t for my friends. Shiro, Lance, Hunk, and Shay, they’ve been with me through thick and thin. They had my back and I had theirs. We supported each other, laughed together, cried together. I’m positive that I would have died long ago without them.”

It felt strange talking about her friends with Keith. After so long of not seeing them, their names felt weird on her lips. Her heart lurched and she felt pain in her stomach. She missed them so much. 

It took her a moment to realize that Keith was looking at her. His violet eyes seemed to stare into her soul and she might have forgotten how to breathe for a split second. 

“You’re friends,” he said, slowly. “Are they…Are they alive?” 

Pidge curled her arms around herself. “I don’t know,” she said. “I think they are. God, I hope they are. I keep telling myself that they’re fine, that they’re ok cause I don’t think I’d be able to deal otherwise, but I really don’t know.”

After a moment of silence, Keith said, “you’re so lucky to have friends like that. People who watch out for you and care for you. People who love you.” Pidge stared into his eyes, her heart hammering in her chest. “If they’re anything like you, Pidge, I do not doubt that they’re alive and well.”

Pidge was finding it hard to breathe. That was the first time he called her by her name. She found that she liked it. 

She liked it a lot. 

“Thanks,” she finally murmured. 

“Don’t mention it,” he said with a tiny hint of a squeak in his voice, his face slightly pink. 

The silence that followed was much more content than the previous ones had been. Pidge took a chance to peak at Keith out of the corner of her eye. He was still blushing and looking down at his hands, which were fidgeting in his lap. She couldn’t help but smile. She was starting to grow quite fond of him, despite herself. 

Maybe Keith was right. Maybe she was an idiot.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is full of fluff! I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> I do not own Voltron or any of its characters.

The best parts of Keith’s days were when he was with Pidge. After their heart to heart where he shared his story with her, she finally opened up to him and ceased to treat him like dirt. He told her about himself, and she did the same. 

It became abundantly clear that Pidge was much more interesting than he was, so he let her do most of the talking. He learned that her favorite color was green, that she loved peanut butter but hated peanuts, that she was a master at playing video games, and that she despised the outdoors. That last conversation brought along a nearly four-hour rant about how messed up her allergies became during the past two years when she was forced to camp in the wilderness to escape imminent destruction. 

She told him that her given name was Katie and that Pidge was just a nickname. 

Ah, Katie. It was such a lovely name and sounded so nicely on her lips. Part of him wanted to call her that, but he refrained from doing so. The name she had given him was Pidge, so he would respect her wishes and refer to her as such. That didn’t stop him from saying it when he was alone. His lips tingled every time. 

She even told him all about her family and friends. She told him how her brother, Matt, would fall hopelessly in love with every single girl he laid his eyes on, how her father had a strange passion for knitting and spent three years gifting the family with only things he had created, and how her mother was a savage Monopoly player, which Pidge claimed nearly caused World War 3. 

However, talking about her family would always make Pidge seem so hopelessly sad, no matter how many times she laughed from remembering the antics they got up to. Keith wanted nothing more than to turn back time to save her family himself or find a way to bring back the dead, or personally murder everyone responsible for the deaths of her family. He desperately wanted to do anything he could to ease her pain. 

She rarely got sad when speaking of her friends though, so Keith tried to urge her to talk about them more. After a while, it was almost as if he knew them himself. He had a feeling that he would get along well with Shiro. He was glad that Pidge had an older brother figure around after hers was killed. He knew there was no way that her biological sibling could have been replaced, but it had to have helped to have Shiro there. Shay seemed really cool too and he could practically taste Hunk’s cooking from how Pidge described it. 

He knew immediately that he would have been so unbelievably annoyed with Lance, that he had no desire to meet him to determine whether or not that presumption was actually true. 

Even though she was mostly joyful while talking about her friends, it didn’t mean that she always was. While she knew for sure that her family was dead, her friend’s fates were still up in the air. As long as she focused on the past, she was good. The minute she started thinking about whether or not they were dead, she was a wreck. 

Keith usually refrained from bringing up her friends for a few days after those moments. 

The one topic that never managed to make her upset was technology. Keith found that Pidge could go on for hours on end talking about things he had never even heard of before. She tried explaining to him multiple times how she had gotten the locking mechanism on the door to open which, according to her, was a fairly simple procedure, but he could barely understand half of what she was saying. His incompetence seemed to humor her, as she always laughed at his desperate attempts to add something of value to their conversations (lecture being a more accurate term). He honestly didn’t care in the slightest. He would make a fool out of himself a hundred times more than necessary if it meant keeping her laughing and preventing her from thinking about the horrors of the world she lived in. 

One day, Keith surprised Pidge by bringing back a piece from an old control panel that was becoming faulty, and her face lit up brighter than he had ever seen it before. She immediately started tinkering with it, completely zoning him out. Keith didn’t mind, he found that he liked watching her work. She would poke the tip of her tongue out of the corner of her mouth when she was concentrating particularly hard on something. It was cute. 

After that, Keith grabbed every piece of spare technology whenever he could to bring to Pidge. She reacted the same way every time, no matter if it was a handful of wires or the shell of a drone. She had even managed to create a couple of communication devices for the two of them. They tested them out and found that they were surprisingly very successful. Pidge got so excited that she grabbed his arm and squeezed it. This prompted Keith to get her even more stuff. 

Keith knew that it was incredibly stupid to become so attached to Pidge. He couldn’t help it, though. Every time he saw her, or even just thought about her, he felt happier than he had in years. His chest would tingle when she teased him, and he felt an emptiness inside of him when they were parted. 

While it took him a while to fully realize what he was feeling, It came to him clearly when he was watching her sleep one night. She was dreaming, and it was a good one if her happy expression was anything to go. At one point she giggled, and it was the purest sound Keith had ever heard. When she reached over to take his hand in hers, Keith was sure that his heart had stopped beating. Her skin was so soft and her hands were so small. She had some freckles on her knuckles, and small white scars littered her pale hands. After a moment of staring at their joint hands, he became aware that he had been subconsciously rubbing his thumb along the back of her hand. 

The sensation was nice. The feeling of his skin against hers. He wanted more. 

He wanted to hold her in his arms and never let her go. He wanted to keep her safe from harm. He wanted to shelter her from the horrible deeds his parents, brother, and the rest of his people did daily. He wanted to learn every single detail there was to learn about her. He wanted to give kisses to each and every one of her scars. He wanted to kiss her smooth, plump lips. 

He loved her. 

When that realization hit him, Keith was completely lost. At first, he tried to deny the possibility of it being true. They’d only known each other for a short while, and a third of it was spent with her completely hating his guts. There was no way in heaven or hell that he was in love with Pidge. 

He looked at the sleeping girl again. 

Damn it!

Keith ran his fingers through his hair. What was he supposed to do now? Did this change anything? How was he supposed to act around her?

Pidge was starting to snore softly. He had had the urge to set her free before (in fact, he had it on multiple occasions, sometimes many times a day) but it had never been stronger than it was at that moment. Why not do it? She’d be happier. She’d be far away from his brother. She’d be free. 

Keith shook his head. 

No. 

She’d be safer here with him. There was no way for him to know she was safe if he let her go. If she was by his side, he could protect her. 

Pidge let out a particularly loud snore. 

He would protect her with his life.

He had to. 

—————————————————————

Pidge, despite herself, thoroughly enjoyed Keith’s company. Sure, he could be brooding, get annoyed with her easily, and be reclusive. But he could also be awkward, attentive, and curious. He would also become very clumsy when flustered, which Pidge couldn’t help but admit was adorable. 

He was so much fun to tease and seemed genuinely interested in what she had to say, no matter if it was about how stupid Lance could be sometimes (correction: most of the time) or about the newest piece of tech she was tinkering with. 

Oh! There was another good thing about him. He would continuously bring her some Galra tech to tinker with. Pidge had to give credit to the evil aliens, their technology was insane. Whenever she laid her eyes on any piece of it, she couldn’t help but swoon. The Galra were decades ahead of Earth when it came to technology. It was no wonder that they so easily conquered the slower planet. It took her a bit to get the hang of how it worked, but once she understood it, she became an expert in a matter of hours. Pidge wasn’t so good with people, but she understood technology like the back of her hand. After less than a day with the new tech, it was as if she had been studying it for years. 

The pieces Keith would give her were mostly spare parts that he was able to scrounge up from the trash, but she treated each one like it was a treasure. She tried to explain to Keith the projects she was working on, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get a grasp of what she was saying. 

Pidge didn’t mind that he couldn’t comprehend her. He tried his best to understand her and had gotten her all the tech in the first place. She was indebted to him. 

She found that although they spoke a lot, it was mostly her doing the talking. She tried to get him to contribute more, but he kept finding ways to direct the flow of conversation back to her. Pidge was starting to get frustrated. She wanted to know more about Keith. Yes, he told her about his parents, which she was sure was very hard for him, but she wanted more. The only other thing she learned about him was that his favorite color was red. 

Pidge looked up from the communicator she was fidgeting with to where Keith was sitting on the bed. He was reading a book very intently, his eyes narrowed and his lips forming the words as he read them. Pidge could barely make out the whisper of his voice as he said some of the words aloud. He always did that when he read, which Pidge found kind of endearing. She was a speed reader, able to pick up everything she saw without any issue and go through books like nobody’s business. The way Keith read, in his slow thoughtful way, reminded her of Matt. 

While she liked to blaze through books to get the information she needed as fast as possible, Matt preferred to sit down, relax, and enjoy what he was reading. He spent minutes on each page, studying them as if he were trying to memorize them down to the last detail. He would sometimes mouth the words like Keith, and even read aloud if he was stuck on something. Pidge used to get annoyed with him. Why would he take so long to read? It took up valuable time that could be spent putting that newly learned knowledge to use. 

Watching Keith read, made her truly appreciate the way her brother practically worshiped his books. 

A bit of hair fell into Keith’s eyes. He blew it out of his face. It fell again. He blew again. The process repeated two more times before he finally got annoyed and pushed his hair out of his eyes with his hands. This resulted in even more strands falling into his face. Pidge covered her mouth to stifle her giggles as she watched him furiously contend with his hair. The urge to play with it came over her suddenly, and she stopped. Where did that come from? 

She quickly returned to her work, before Keith could notice that anything was up. Her heart raced for some unknown reason. Her palms were starting to get slightly sweaty. What was going on?

This wasn’t the first time she had gotten flustered around Keith. I mean, it was hard not to when he had the most gorgeous eyes in the world and hair that looked so terribly soft that she wanted nothing more than to run her fingers through it…..

Pidge pinched her hand and shook her head. She had to get a hold of herself. Having such thoughts would not do. 

She spared a glance back at Keith, who at that second looked up. Their eyes met for a brief moment before the pair of them hastily looked away. 

They would not do at all.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are no words to describe how happy I am with the response that this story is getting! Reading all of your comments makes my heart soar! Thank you all so much! 
> 
> I do not own Voltron or any of its characters.

Pidge squirmed and picked at the dress she was wearing. It was green, so there was that, but that didn’t mean that she still liked it. The material was rough, itchy, and causing her allergies to act up. It was also way too long so that when she took a step, she was tripping over the excess material. 

Her discomfort probably also had to do with the fact that she would rather be anywhere else in the world than where she was now. When Keith had come to her to tell her about the banquet being held, never in her right mind did she think she would be attending. Standing there in her ridiculous dress, she still had no idea as to why she was there. Keith had explained that the emperor wanted all slaves to attend, so she had to go. Pidge wasn’t content with that explanation, but it would have to do for the time being. 

She sighed, crossed her arms, and tapped her foot. She had to go to a couple of events like this when her father was at the university. They were the most boring things in the world. You really know these events are bad when they still exist in the apocalypse. Of course, now it’s much worse because this one was being run by evil mass-murdering aliens. 

To her right, Keith seemed just as anxious as she was bored. Not that she wasn’t anxious. On the contrary, she became nervous whenever she saw one of the purple freaks (other than Keith). She was just playing up her boredom so that they couldn’t sense her fear. She was already a third of their height and didn’t want to seem as weak as she already was. 

“Just remember,” Keith whispered to her. “Don’t do anything brash. Stay close to me. You don’t want to draw too much attention to yourself. Don’t be an idiot.”

“I know. I know.”

Keith glared at her. 

“I do!” Pidge insisted. “I promise that I won’t act out of line. Trust me, I don’t want these guys to notice me any more than you do.” 

Keith was about to say something, probably something about her being an idiot and that he needed to make absolutely certain that she would be on her best behavior when the doors slammed open and Lotor marched through. 

Pidge froze in place, unable to move and having a hard time feeling her legs. This was the first time she had seen the first prince since he had nearly raped her. Her prayers that he would ignore her were immediately quashed when he spotted her and sauntered over within the first seconds of entering the room. 

She clenched her hands into fists to stop them from trembling and could feel Keith stiffen beside her. With every step Lotor took that brought him closer to her, Pidge found it harder and harder to breathe. There was a light pressure on her back and she jumped. 

It was Keith's hand. 

He wasn’t looking at her, choosing instead to glare at his brother, but his touch made Pidge feel at ease. He was here by her side. She’d be okay. He wouldn’t let Lotor do anything to her. With her confidence rejuvenated, Pidge fixed Lotor with a fierce gaze of her own. 

“Hello Kitten,” the prince said, grinning his usual predatory grin. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” He winked at her. “I’ve missed you.”

“Well, I can’t say that I feel the same,” Pidge replied, stoically. She could feel Keith smirking beside her. 

Lotor didn’t appear to be all that bothered by her comment. A little muscle in his jaw tensed, which was the only hint to his true feelings of annoyance. It was at that moment that Pidge noticed that the prince wasn’t alone. Beside him was a gorgeous, dark-skinned young woman. Her hair was long, wavy, and a blinding white. Her eyes were an entrancing kaleidoscope of blues, greens, and pinks. She was tall, about as tall as Keith, and wore a stunning floor-length blue gown. 

She was the most beautiful girl that Pidge had ever seen in her life. 

“Oh. How rude of me not to introduce you,” Lotor said with the absolute worst attempt of faking regret that Pidge had ever heard. Besides, not introducing her to someone was by far the least rude thing on ‘Lotor’s List of Rude’ that Pidge was formulating in her head. “This is my fiancee, Princess Allura of Altea.”

Fiancee? Pidge was thoroughly confused. 

The girl bowed her head. “It is my pleasure to meet you...er.” She looked at Lotor. Lotor looked expectantly at Pidge. 

Pidge glowered. On the one hand, this Allura chick seemed nice and she normally would give her name immediately to someone like her if asked. On the other hand, Lotor was right there. She had gone this far without that asshole discovering her name and she didn’t want to concede defeat just yet. 

Almost as if she could sense the battle happening in Pidge’s mind, Allura said “ I’m sorry gentlemen, but if you would excuse us ladies. I would dearly like some company as I freshen up.”

Pidge liked the sound of Allura’s voice. It was melodic, yet firm. She doubted that anyone could walk over this girl easily. She also had an accent that sounded almost like a British one. Pidge hadn’t heard enough British accents to properly identify it, but she was pretty sure that was what was closest to it. 

Lotor nodded. “Please, take all the time you need.”

Allura curtsied before turning and walking out of the room with all the regalness of a queen. Pidge exchanged a look with Keith before scurrying off after her, lifting her dress to her knees as not to trip. She faintly heard Keith give a soft snort of laughter, probably because of how ridiculous she looked. 

As she had no idea where the bathroom was, Pidge was forced to follow Allura so she wouldn’t get hopelessly lost in the maze of hallways around her. It didn’t help that Allura was so much taller than her so her stride reached much further. Pidge practically had to jog to keep up. She was thankful that she wasn’t wearing heels, as the Galra didn’t have any that would fit her. Her mother forced her to wear heels whenever they went to the university banquets and she despised them. She always managed to find a way to trip over them, no matter how careful she was. 

Finally, they made it to the bathroom. Pidge stood beside Allura as the other girl fluffed up her hair. Pidge considered that entirely pointless, as Allura already looked drop-dead gorgeous and didn’t need to spend any time at all improving her looks whatsoever. Pidge looked in the mirror and almost laughed. 

What a pair they were. The tall, flawless girl who was more beautiful than any model Earth could show off; and the tiny little gremlin with hair sticking up all over her head like a bird whose feathers were in disarray and round glasses covering half of her face. 

“Now that we’re alone,” Allura said briskly, turning to Pidge with a hint of sadness behind the ever-present kind smile on her face. “Let’s start over, shall we? I’m Allura former princess of Altea.”

“Um...I’m Pidge. What do you mean former..?”

“Earth wasn’t the first planet for the Galra to overthrow,” Allura said, her smile now completely replaced with overwhelming sadness. “My people fought valiantly, but we were hopelessly outmatched. Emperor Zarkon promised to spare their lives if I became his sons' wife.” 

Allura spat out that last word as if it were a curse. Pidge was pretty sure it was. She couldn’t imagine having to marry the demon spawn that was Lotor. A whole new wave of respect for Allura washed over her. That was so noble of her to give up her life so that her people would be safe. 

“I’m so sorry…”

“It’s alright,” Allura waved her apology away. “That was long ago. I was barely fourteen, and Lotor was still a child. I had no idea what it was he would become.”

She shuddered. Pidge gasped. “He didn’t...Have you…? I mean…”

“We haven’t had intercourse yet, if that’s what you’re asking,” Allura said to Pidge’s relief. “In all our years of being engaged, he hasn't shown the slightest interest in me. Apparently, I’m ‘not his type’,” she rolled her eyes. “Not that I’m complaining. I’ve seen what he’s done to girls he’s interested in. I’m quite thankful to not be one of them.” Her expression grew sympathetic. “I heard that you have caught his fancy, Pidge. I’m so so sorry.”

“It’s alright,” PIdge said, honestly. “He hasn’t been able to do too much to me. I’ve got Keith.”

Allura pursed her lips. “Ah, yes. Keith. He doesn’t appear to have the same malice as Lotor. On the contrary, he seems to be very different from his brother.” Allura’s eyes twinkled for a split second, leaving Pidge bewildered as to what the older girl was thinking. 

—————————————————————

Unfortunately, Pidge was unable to stay in the bathroom with Allura for the rest of the evening, no matter how much she wanted to. As she was his fiancee, Allura was forced to return to Lotor’s side. Pidge would rather not go near that piece of filth if she had the choice, so she bade farewell to the Altean. As she watched the white-haired girl disappear from the crowd, she sorely wished that this wouldn’t be their last meeting. She rather liked the girl and wanted to see her again. 

Pidge looked around for Keith but was unable to spot the dark-haired half-Galra. The large room was fairly crowded, which was starting to give Pidge claustrophobia. She managed to make her way to the edge of the room near the food. She had just taken a deep breath and was admiring what appeared to be punch when a large hand grabbed her from behind. 

She squeaked as she managed to pull away and twist around to face her attacker. It was a Galra soldier and a particularly large one at that. He was grinning down at her, his demon eyes filled with hunger. He stalked towards her, forcing her to back up until she hit the wall. 

He continued to advance. Pidge looked around wildly for help. She spotted a few Galra smirking at her as they sipped from their drinks. Another Galra just a few feet away was ravaging a human girl of his own, as was another Galra a bit aways from him. 

So that was why the slaves were invited. They were there for the Galra to pleasure themselves with. 

Pidge’s stomach churned. She was trapped. There was nowhere to go. Nowhere to run. Her hand slammed against the table beside her. Her heart soared. When the Galra took his next step towards her, he was met with a face full of whatever liquid was in the bowl that Pidge was now sure wasn’t punch. 

The entire room came to a screeching halt. All eyes were on Pidge and the furious, seething Galra above her. Pidge spotted Keith only a few steps away, his arms frozen in their act of reaching out towards her. He looked angry, that was certain, but that was overshadowed by the complete and utter fear in his eyes. A figure appeared on the stage. Everyone turned to look at them. Pidge saw her life flash before her eyes. 

Emperor Zarkon was glaring right at her. 

—————————————————————

She was an idiot. She was such a stupid idiot. Why had he fallen in love with the most reckless, idiotic girl ever to exist?

Now, Keith was not blind. He knew that Pidge wasn’t entirely to blame for what happened. He had seen how the Galra had grabbed her, after all. If she had just waited two seconds, though, he would have been there to take her safely away and they wouldn’t be stuck in this mess. 

The room was silent. Everyone was waiting for the emperor’s orders. He appraised them all before beckoning his fingers. The soaked Galra grabbed the small girl tightly by the arm and yanked her towards the stage. Keith threw himself after them but was swallowed by the crowd. 

The silence had been broken. Every Galra was screaming and yelling at Pidge as though she had just murdered somebody. Keith tried his best to reach her to no avail. He was forced to watch helplessly as the crowd tore at her clothes and hair as she was marched by them on her way to the stage. 

The Galra threw Pidge onto the stage. She stumbled but managed not to fall over. That accomplishment was proven obsolete, though, when the Galra pushed her so forcefully that she fell to her hands and knees. She was trembling. Keith saw red. He pushed and forced his way through the crowd with all he had, but still wasn’t getting anywhere. 

He spotted Lotor and Allura standing by the edge of the stage. Allura had her hand over her mouth, tears sparkling in her eyes as she watched Pidge being so roughly handled. As if knowing he was looking at him, Lotor’s eyes found Keith’s. He grinned. Keith’s heart nearly stopped. 

If Lotor looked that gleeful, this was going to be bad. 

“You piece of filth,” Zarkon’s voice was loud and filled with rage. “Have you forgotten your current position? When one of our soldiers requests your services, you give yourself to them no questions asked!” Keith watched Pidge flinch from the force of his yell. “You disrupted the entire banquet and made a deliberate attempt to undermine our authority. Your punishment…”

“If I may interject, Father,” Lotor said, not even bothering to contain his glee at the current predicament. “That lovely little slave girl happens to belong to Prince Keith. You remember her. The one that was giving him so much trouble.” Lotor winked at Keith, who wanted nothing more than to rip off the older prince’s head and stab it a hundred times over until it was nothing more than an unrecognizable pile of goo. 

The emperor’s eyes found Keith. “Come!” He barked. 

The crowd parted. Keith made his trek up to the stage, determinedly not looking at anyone else besides Pidge. The terror and guilt in her eyes broke his heart. He tried to communicate to her with his gaze that everything would be okay, but he could barely convince himself of that. 

Once he made it to the stage, he knelt in front of his father, bowing his head. 

“I must ask…”

“Silence!” Zarkon roared. “Ever since you brought in that slave, she has been nothing but trouble. The escape attempts. The wounded guards. The hacked door. With the lack of news, I thought you had finally managed to break her, but this has shown that that has not been the case.”

Keith looked up into his adopted father's eyes, desperately trying to come up with something, anything, that would get Pidge out of this unharmed. 

Before he could, however, Zarkon said, “You have proven to be unfit for having a slave and will be charged with carrying out her punishment.” He reached out his hand and another soldier placed a horrible looking whip into it. “One hundred lashes!”

Keith was sure he had died. He had died and was in hell. That was the only possible explanation for what was happening. The crowd cheered. He could hear Allura’s faint sobs. 

“Father. Father, please,” he cried, desperately grabbing at the emperor’s cloak. “Look at how small she is. A hundred lashes will kill her! Please. Please, no!”

The cold glare he was given in return proved that there was nothing he could do or say that would change Zarkon’s mind. 

“I won’t,” he breathed out. “I won’t do it. I won’t lash her.”

Zarkon appraised him with a sneer. “If you won’t do it, I’ll just ask Lotor to do it. I’m sure that he’d be thrilled to.”

Keith glanced over at Lotor’s gleeful face. 

“I’ll take the punishment. Have him whip me,” he begged. “Have him whip me.”

“There will be no negotiating!” Zarkon roared. “Either you carry out her punishment, or Lotor does.”

“I...I…”

“Lotor!”

“Stop!” Keith screamed, his whole body trembling. “Give it to me.”

Zarkon nodded in approval before placing the whip into Keith’s shaking hands. He looked over at Pidge. A whipping post had been brought out onto the center of the stage and her hands were already bound tightly to it. Her tiny body shook like a leaf. She was staring at him with those big brown eyes of hers that made him melt every time he looked into them. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, the sound barely audible over the clamoring of the crowd. “I’m so sorry, Keith.”

Keith shook his head, unable to speak anymore. What could he say? He walked around so that he was behind her, the whip clenched tightly in his hands. With a deep breath, he closed his eyes and cracked the whip against her back. 

Pidge screamed. 

“One!” The crowd yelled. 

He cracked the whip again. 

Another scream. 

“Two!”

Again. 

“Three!”

Again.

“Four!”

Again. 

“Five!”

Again and again and again. 

After every strike, Pidge screamed a loud haunting scream full of pain and anguish that made Keith want to stab knives into his ears. At around thirty strikes, her voice gave out, and the screams turned into horrible sobs. 

Keith didn’t know when he started crying. All he knew was that at some point, his blurry vision was stained with the red of Pidge’s blood. Her dress was ripped beyond repair, her back was shredded, and yet Keith continued with her torment. When the crowd cried out “Fifty!” the realization that this was only halfway over really set in. 

At sixty-three lashes, Pidge passed out completely from the pain. If he thought that this meant he was done, one look from the emperor proved otherwise. Tears poured freely down his face as he sobbed while continuing the torture of the girl he loved with all his heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So.....yeah. That chapter was pretty intense. I'm so sorry for doing this to poor Pidge! 😢


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for what I did in the last chapter! I hope you enjoy what comes next!
> 
> I do not own Voltron or any of its characters.

“Are you sure that she’ll be okay?”

“Yes.”

“It’s been a week and she hasn’t woken up.”

“She needs her rest.”

“What if she never wakes up? Is there any chance you…”

“Keith,” Allura admonishes. “If she wakes up now, she’ll only be in pain. Do you want that?”

“No.”

“Then leave her be. She’ll be fine. I swear my life on it.”

Keith groaned. The prince was an absolute wreck. The second he hit Pidge with the hundredth lash, he was untying her from the post and running to his room, Allura at his heels. It had been touch and go for the first thirty-six hours. During that time, Pidge’s heart stopped six times. The young girl’s back had been so completely destroyed that Keith had been able to see bone in some places. 

Without Allura, there would have been no chance of Pidge’s survival. Alteans were gifted with high amounts of quintessence in their systems. Because of this, they were able to do things that most would call ‘magic’. As the princess of Altea, Allura had such an enormous amount of quintessence within her that she could heal others to a certain extent. Allura didn’t really call it healing though. She preferred to refer to it as ‘cleansing the body of impurities’. The specifics didn’t matter. All Keith cared about was making sure that Pidge was going to be okay. 

Pidge was currently laying on her stomach on Keith’s bed, her back covered in bandages. Her glasses were resting on the bedside table, making her face seem even smaller and skinnier without them. Keith was kneeling at her side, both of his hands holding one of her tiny ones. Allura stood on the other side of the bed, looking messier than ever before. Both she and the prince had bags under their eyes and thoroughly disheveled hair. 

“I’m going to get some rest”, Allura said softly. 

Keith just grunted in response. He had no energy to argue with her to stay, and even if he had, he wasn’t entirely sure that he would. Allura needed her rest, especially after using so much of her energy-saving Pidge. 

When the door closed and her footsteps completely disappeared, Keith allowed his head to fall on the bed. Normally, this would be the time where he cried, but he had no tears left inside of him to shed. He just contented himself to lay beside Pidge, listening to her heartbeat. Listening to the proof that she was still living. 

He hadn’t been able to sleep since that wretched day. For the first few days after, he wasn’t able to get the sound of her screams out of his head. Now he only heard them when he was asleep, but he knew that those would never go away. He was certain that they would haunt his nightmares until the end of his days. 

A beep sounded. Time to change Pidge’s bandages. 

Keith got to his feet and started to carefully unwind the wind bandages covering Pidge’s torso. Allura taught him how to tie and untie bandages the right way, so he was confident enough in his abilities to do this on his own. When the last bandages fell away, Keith braced himself to see what had become of her back. 

Allura was a miracle worker, but even her powers had limits. Yes, all of Pidge’s wounds had healed, but her back was still littered with angry red scars that seemed to scream at Keith whenever he looked at them. As he carefully applied the ointment Allura left him to Pidge’s skin, he could feel the bumps and ridges from those scars rising from her previously completely smooth back. 

Every single one of those scars was his fault. He had the chance to let her go countless times before that dastardly banquet. And why didn’t he? Because he was selfish. Because he had the gall to believe that he could protect her and keep her safe. Because she brought him the first bit of joy he experienced in a long time and he didn’t want to let her go. And what did that cost?

If he had the strength to set Pidge free, then she wouldn’t have these scars. 

—————————————————————

Keith wasn’t sure when he had managed to somehow fall asleep, but all he knew was that he was being woken up by someone quietly calling his name. He slowly opened his eyes, blinking out the sleep, to discover that the soft voice belonged to Pidge. Her eyes were open and she was staring at him. 

It took Keith a second to remember how to breathe. 

“Pidge,” he finally manages to gasp out. He stops there, though, at a complete loss for what to say next. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispers. “I’m so sorry. You warned me not to do anything and I…”

“Shhh. Shhh. Don’t apologize,” he said, running his fingers through her hair. “You need to go back to sleep. You need to rest.”

“You were crying in your sleep, Keith,” she said, completely ignoring him. Tears streamed down her face. “And it was because of me. I did that to you. You were forced to do that to me because of my awful mistake. I...If I hadn’t…”

“There is no one to blame other than that bastard soldier who tried to have his way with you and my horrible, terrible uncle.”

“You forgot Lotor, the ultimate supreme dickhead.”

“Especially Lotor, the ultimate supreme dickhead.”

Pidge smiled softly, closing her eyes. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive myself for doing that to you,” she said. 

“What do you mean? You have nothing to worry about, Pidge. I’m the one who needs to be begging for forgiveness from you!”

“I don’t blame you in the slightest,” she said as earnestly as she could with her eyes still closed and her body slowly falling away into sleep. “You were given a choice to whip me or have Lotor do it, and you chose the one that probably saved my life.”

Pidge mumbled a few things before she was taken away by sleep entirely. She did manage to make one last sentence coherent though, a sentence that shook Keith down to his very core. 

“I love you, Keith.”

Keith stared in amazement at the girl in front of him. Was it even possible for her to love him? Not after what he just did. He shook his head. If there ever was someone so utterly unworthy of her love, it was him. She deserved the world, and he would give it to her in a heartbeat if he could. 

Keith looked up, a thought formulating in his brain. 

Maybe he couldn’t give her the world, but he could give her the next best thing. 

—————————————————————

It had taken days of him sending out drone after drone after drone and later intently scrolling through every bit of recording that they sent back, but he finally did it. He finally found Pidge’s friends. 

Voltron, she called them, if he remembered correctly. 

He had to hand it to the group, they were good at staying hidden. They were deep in the forest, and their camp was set up so that it would be easily overlooked by a passing glance. The only reason he even spotted them was because he was searching specifically for them. 

Keith studied the people on the screen. The tall guy staring at a map and talking intently with a girl had to be Shiro, and the girl was Shay. The round boy currently roasting what looked like a bird of some kind on a campfire must be Hunk. The lanky guy that fell out of a tree was definitely Lance. 

For some reason, Keith felt as though he knew these people. It was probably because Pidge talked about them so much. He couldn’t help but wonder how different his life would have been if he was fully human and friends with these guys instead of half-Galra and brother to a sadistic maniac. 

After carefully mapping out the way to their campsite, Keith meticulously deleted every bit of recording he gathered from the drones and stood up. He took a deep, shaky breath. This was it. He walked briskly out of the room, not slowing his pace in the slightest until he reached his destination. 

He knocked on the door. 

Allura opened it almost immediately. She narrowed her eyes, able to see immediately that he was planning something. 

“What can I do for you, Keith?” she asked lightly, her tone not displaying any of the suspicions she held in her eyes. 

“I need you to watch over Pidge. Please, stay by her side until I get back. Make sure no one comes near her. Especially Lotor.” He snarled out his cousin’s name like the disgusting trash it was. 

“What’s going on? Where will you be?” she asked. 

“I need to go out for a bit. It’s for Pidge. Please, I’m begging you. Please do this for me.” 

He looked imploringly at her, not even bothering to hide the desperation in his eyes. She visibly softened at the sight. 

“All right. I’ll look after her. But Keith,” she took his hand. “Whatever you’re doing, please be careful,” she implored. 

Keith squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry,” he reached in his pocket and pulled out a small device. “I will be. I have to come back.” He placed the mysterious object in Allura’s hand. “For her.”

Allura stared at the thing Keith handed her, turning it over in her hand. “What is this?”

“It’s a communicator,” Keith explained. Pidge made it, so it isn’t connected to any of the Galra’s communication systems. “We tested them out a week or so ago, so I know they work. I have the other.” He pulled out an identical device. “Push this button here to speak. We’ll be able to communicate this way. You can turn it off and on here. Only keep it on if you’re able to talk. I don’t want anybody finding out about this. If anything goes wrong, let me know and I’ll come back as fast as I can.”

Allura gripped the communicator tightly in her hand and nodded. Keith’s chest lifted slightly. He was so thankful to have someone that he could trust. 

—————————————————————

Sneaking away wasn’t an issue. In fact, it was a piece of cake. He was the second prince. All he had to do was say he was going for a walk, and leave. He made certain to be extra careful that there was no one following him though. 

Once he was a fair distance away and sure that he was alone, he pulled out the map and started making his way to where Voltron was hiding. On his way, he tried to make himself look human. Unfortunately, his body seemed to despise him and refused to change his appearance the one time he wanted to. 

Oh, well. He had a backup plan. He just hoped it worked. 

Once he was near the camp, Keith put himself on high alert. Pidge had said they always kept lookouts in the trees. He did not want to be caught off guard. Keith’s hair suddenly stood on end. His ear twitched. He dove to the side. 

It was only because of his superior Galra hearing and knowledge of there possibly being someone around that prevented him from being shot. As it was, he only just barely made it out of the way. He scrambled behind a nearby tree to avoid another volley of shots. The person responsible for them yelled for reinforcements. Keith reached into his pocket and wrapped his hand around the thing inside. He took a deep breath.

It was now or never. 

“Hold your fire!” He yelled. “I need to talk to you!”

He heard voices muttering. Footsteps made their way closer to his hiding spot. 

“You call yourselves Voltron, right?”

The footsteps stopped. 

A voice, different from the one in the tree who had yelled for backup, said, “How do you know that?”

“I’m alone and unarmed,” Keith said. “Let me come out and explain everything to you.”

After some muttering between the group, the same voice said, “Alright, but keep your hands where we can see them. If you do anything even remotely suspicious, I won’t stop our sharpshooter from blowing you to hell.”

“Okay,” Keith said. “I’m coming out now.”

Slowly, slowly, he inched his way out from behind the tree. There in front of him was Voltron. There was Shiro, standing front and center, looking every part of the leader Pidge described him as. There was Lance, standing to the far right of the group, his rifle aimed right at Keith and his eyes showing none of the joking idiot that Pidge said he was. There were Hunk and Shay, both standing on Shiro’s other side and both looking as though they had just rolled out of bed. 

All of their eyes were fixated on Keith. Not at his face, but what he held in his outstretched hand. 

Pidge’s glasses. 

Lance cocked his gun, fury clear in his eyes. “Where did you get those?” He roared. 

“Pidge gave them to me,” Keith said calmly.

At the sound of her name, all members of Voltron tensed up even more than they already had. 

“She is also the one who told me all your names, Lance, Shiro, Hunk, Shay,” He pointed at each person as he said their name. “And that your group is called Voltron.”

“You’ve spoken with Pidge?” Shiro asked, his voice shaking ever so slightly. 

“Yes, I have. A lot, actually. I’d like to say that we’ve become friends.” 

Well, he didn’t know what he would refer to his relationship with Pidge as being, but ‘friends’ would probably be the best description of it to Voltron. 

“Is she okay?” Shiro asked. 

“Yes,” said Keith. 

Shay put her hand over her mouth to stifle a sob. Hunk opted to instead weep openly. Even Shiro closed his eyes and took in a few shaky breaths. The only one that didn’t make any change at all was Lance. 

“And why should we believe you?” The brown-skinned boy snarled. 

“You’d be stupid if you did,” Keith said, truthfully. “But I urge you to. I need you to give me your trust, though. And, if you want to see Pidge again, you’ll agree to do so.”

—————————————————————

Pidge groaned. Her eyes felt like lead, her back was still sore, and her allergies were starting to act up for some reason. Did Keith bring a plant in the room to make her feel better? She really hoped that he didn’t. She had given him a long lecture about how sensitive her allergies were. 

When she finally managed to pry her eyes open, she immediately closed them again. 

What the hell was going on?

She pinched herself hard, but nothing changed. This was real. It wasn’t a dream. She opened her eyes to find herself staring into Lance’s blue orbs. He was looking at her as if she were a ghost, which she wasn’t entirely positive was completely out of the question. 

“Oh my God,” she breathed. 

Lance didn’t say anything. He just continued to stare at her, almost as if he was afraid that speaking would cause her to disappear. Pidge looked around. She was lying on a blowup mattress in a tent, completely different from the king-sized bed she had fallen asleep in. 

She was back with Voltron. She was free. 

A sob tore from her lips and she launched herself into Lance’s arms. The poor boy was completely unprepared for this and nearly fell backward, but managed to quickly right himself. He wrapped one of his arms around her, pulling her close to him, using the other to run his fingers through her hair. His body was shaking, signaling to Pidge that he was crying too. 

The flap to the tent unzipped and Pidge looked up to see Shiro, Hunk, and Shay standing in the entrance. Seeing that she was awake, the three of them immediately ran to her side and wrapped her in their arms as well. The tent was much too small for all of these people to be inside, but they could care less. 

Pidge was finally back with her friends. She was safe. 

But then why did she feel so empty inside?


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm starting college on Monday and I'm both nervous and excited about it! I didn't want to post a chapter on my first day of school because I knew that I'd have a lot on my mind, but I didn't want to make you guys wait a whole week for the last chapter. Therefore, I decided to post another chapter today so I can post the last one on Sunday! 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy it!
> 
> I do not own Voltron or any of its characters.

Thwack!

The knife hit the center of the unsymmetrical white circle that had been painted on the tree. PIdge wiped the sweat from her forehead as she went over to yank the knife out of its new sheath. 

Thwack!

She hit the circle again. 

Thwack!

And again and again and again. 

It had been three weeks since she had returned to Voltron. After their tearful reunion, Shiro wasted no time in barking orders at them to round everything up. Within the hour, they had everything packed and were moving on to a new location. 

Lance had refused to stray from her side the entire time, constantly looking over at her as if he were her watchdog, and continuously asking her if she needed help or a break. Pidge didn’t mind. She had been away from him for too long to become annoyed with him that easily. If she were being honest, she had missed him and his presence felt comforting. 

It also gave her the chance to ask him about how she got back. According to Lance, some skinny Galra freak had shown up at their base without any warning and claimed to be a friend of Pidge. He gave them her brother’s glasses and made them promise to stay where they were for at least one more day and came back with Pidge right away. The minute Pidge was in Shiro’s arms, the Galra had fled, disappearing without a word. 

Keith. 

There was no doubt about it. Keith had brought her back. He had found her friends and brought her to them. Pidge’s heart ached at the mere thought of her friend. She missed him. 

She missed him terribly. 

Yes, she was thrilled to be back with her friends. She still couldn’t believe that they had all been alive and well this whole time. Being with them made her forget about everything that had happened to her. She didn’t talk about her time with the Galra, and they didn’t ask. It was almost as if it didn’t happen. 

But it had. 

Every time she stretched or moved too quickly, a sharp pain would appear in her back. She had managed to hide her scars from her friends, but she could tell that they were starting to get suspicious. One time, Hunk had hugged her extra tight and the wave of pain that came through her back was so great that she had flinched. Her friends had immediately started fussing over her, and though she managed to fend them off, she could tell that they were far from convinced that she was okay. 

And then there was Keith. 

Pidge couldn’t stop thinking about him. She shouldn’t have been so caught up on him. She really shouldn’t. He had been a part of her life for only a short while. She should be able to just forget about him and get on with her life. 

It didn’t seem like he cared enough about her to talk to her before sending her away with Voltron. He didn’t even have the decency to say goodbye. Forgetting him should be easy. He had probably already forgotten her. 

But she couldn’t ignore the connection that they had. With every look they shared, she swore that electricity passed between them. She could feel his presence when he was around, and when he was, it didn’t matter that she was a Galra slave. She was just happy to see him and be near him. It was nothing like anything she had felt before. 

She loved him. 

Thwack!

The knife hit the tree so hard that the plant swayed. 

There was no denying that she loved Keith. And she hated that she couldn’t just ignore those feelings and move on. 

—————————————————————

Keith was depressed. There was no doubt about it. The only light in his life was gone. He kept telling himself that she was safe. She was with her best friends in the world. They were alive, something she hadn’t been sure about before, and she was with them again. She was probably the happiest she had been in a long time. He should be thrilled. 

Instead, he felt a great emptiness in his chest. It was as if someone had taken his heart and sent it away, which, in a way, he had done. 

It didn’t help that Zarkon had found out about the lack of Pidge’s presence in the compound. At first, he was furious, thinking that Pidge had escaped again. Luckily, Keith had managed to convince his adoptive father that Pidge had died from her wounds. 

The real problem was Lotor. 

The older prince was not convinced of Pidge’s death. Not in the slightest. On the contrary, Keith had the sneaking suspicion that Lotor knew exactly what he did with Pidge. He did not like that thought one bit. His worries were strengthened when Allura came to tell him of Lotor’s recent activity. 

He had apparently been sending out drone after drone into every nearby forest and spending every night combing through the data they had brought back. 

Keith’s heart sank. 

That was exactly what he had been doing while looking for Voltron. If Lotor was looking for Pidge, Keith didn’t doubt that he would find her. 

This gave Keith the drive to do the same. Instead of looking for Pidge though, his drones were mainly tasked with intercepting his brother’s. So far, it was working. Lotor didn’t seem to have any clue where Pidge and her friends were, to Keith’s immense relief. Another benefit to this activity was that it took his mind off of his depression for a while, as worry was the only thing on his mind while partaking in it. However, it didn’t hold it off for long. While he may have been focused on protecting Pidge during the day, nighttime was a different story. 

Every time he slept, he was greeted by Pidge’s agonized screams as he tortured her. Some dreams even had him reliving the horrible memory. As such, Keith didn’t sleep much. Allura got him some sleeping pills, but they only did so much help. Therefore, he contented himself with staying awake for as long as possible until his body eventually forced his mind to shut down. At least when he fell asleep like that, he didn’t usually dream much. 

This meant, though, that he was alone with his thoughts for hours on end, most of which were spent thinking of and missing Pidge. 

It was one such of these nights of staring blankly at the ceiling that Keith was pulled back into reality by an intense knocking at his door. Before he could tell whoever it was to enter, Allura barged in without a second thought. 

Keith sat up straight in bed. By the look on her face, he knew that something was wrong. He didn’t even need her to speak to let him know what it was. 

His heart dropped and his stomach churned. 

Damn it! 

Lotor had found Pidge. 

He was coming for her. 

—————————————————————

“How long does it take to drown an ant?”

Pidge looked over at Lance. The Cuban boy was squatted down, desperately trying to direct an ant to a small puddle of water with a stick. So far, his attempt was failing miserably. 

“Probably a kajillion times longer than it would take to just squash one,” Pidge responded, dryly. 

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Lance said, chewing on his lip with frustration as he tried to complete his goal. 

Pidge just rolled her eyes. She was used to Lance’s stupid questions like this. 

“What type of urine smells the worst?”

“What happens to people born on leap day? Do they only age every four years?” 

“If I eat myself, would I become twice as big or disappear completely?”

Sometimes she’s positive he’s just messing with her and not seriously asking these questions. Other times, she’s not so sure. 

Lance finally got the ant in the puddle. He shouted with joy and looked up to share his achievement with Pidge when his expression suddenly darkened considerably. She frowned and was about to ask him what was wrong when he grabbed his gun from beside him and shot at something behind her. 

Pidge whirled around to watch a Galra soldier crumpled to the ground. 

Her heart stopped. 

Not again. Oh, please not again. She couldn’t handle any more Galra attacks. 

“Pidge!” Lance’s yell brought her out of her stupor. He still had his gun trained on where the soldier had come from. “Go back to the others!” When she didn’t move, he shouted, “GO!”

Pidge ran back as fast as she could. She and Lance had only gone a short distance away for their patrol, so she made it back fairly quickly. Only Hunk was out in the open, cooking on the fire. His eyes widened when he saw her panicked expression. 

“Pidge! What’s wrong?” He asked, jumping up to rush to her side. 

PIdge bent over, her hands on her knees as she struggled to breathe. Running had become a lot more painful after her whipping. “Galra,” she managed to gasp out. 

Luckily, that was all the information needed to explain the situation. He ran back to his tent, shouting for Shiro and Shay. In a flash, the three of them exited their tents, all with weapons. 

“Stay here, Pidge,” Shiro ordered her as they ran to where she had come from. 

PIdge grimaced. Sure, they had good reason to be protective of her, especially after everything she had been through, but she still hated being treated like a defenseless child. 

After taking a moment to gather her knives in her belt, she hurried off after her friends. She knew she was being stupid (she was still recovering, after all) but she couldn’t let her friends face the Galra alone. She had to do something to help. 

She didn’t need to run for long, as she could hear signs of a fight closeby. When she made it to her friends, she was glad to see that they seemed to be doing fairly well for themselves. Lance was up in a tree, as expected, shooting Galra after Galra down with his excellent aim. Hunk was on the ground, doing the same. Pidge noticed that he seemed to be focusing mainly on the Galra near Shay. 

Shay’s family had owned a sword before the invasion and had brought it with them when they went into hiding from the Galra. Shay had practiced wielding it for years, so she was quite good. She was currently dueling a few Galra who had swords of their own, and Shiro was grappling with another. 

Out of the corner of her eye, Pidge saw a figure on the ground move. A Galra soldier who had been shot in the leg by Hunk was raising his gun and pointing it directly at Shiro. 

Pidge’s knife hit him in the center of the forehead before he could take the shot. 

“What are you doing here, Pidge?” Lance yelled at her. 

Before she could answer him, a shout rang out. “There she is!”

A Galra soldier rushed towards her. Lance shot him down instantly. 

Unfortunately, the Galra had guns too. One directed his up at Lance, who jumped down from his tree to avoid being blown to smithereens. With Lance out of the way as her guardian, Pidge was easy pickings for the Galra not busying themselves with her friends. 

Pidge grabbed two of her knives and held her ground, waiting for them to come to her. A barrage of shots from Hunk took most of them out, but one managed to avoid the bullets. He lunged at her, but she sidestepped him and slashed at his outstretched hand. He howled in pain but continued his advance. Pidge noticed that he was unarmed. 

‘Lotor must have sent them to collect me,’ she realized. The thought made her sick. 

After a while of her stabbing and slashing at his unarmored hands and the weak points of armor in his joints, the Galra seemed to have gotten sick of this fight. Pidge could tell this by the fact he finally pulled out a knife of his own. 

As she dodged his attacks, Pidge was forcefully reminded of the pain in her back. With each sharp movement, the pain just got worse and worse. It finally got to a point where she became blinded by it and was unable to see where she was going. 

A brand new source of pain erupted in her side. 

Pidge gasped and fell to the ground. The Galra soldier pulled his knife from her side, causing a scream to tear out from her throat. Shouts from her friends told her that they saw what happened, but they were too far away to do anything. She closed her eyes and pressed her hand to her side. She could feel it become quickly soaked with what she knew was her blood. 

A large pair of arms wrapped around her body and lifted her into the air. Without opening her eyes, Pidge could tell that the arms belonged to the Galra who wounded her. She tried to fight against him, but every time she moved she was bombarded with a seemingly endless supply of pain. She was finding it difficult to breathe. 

They were going to take her back. Not only were they going to take her back, but they were also going to hand her over to Lotor. A fate worse than death, in her opinion. 

Suddenly, the Galra holding her jerked and fell to the ground, taking Pidge with him. She groaned as a whole new wave of pain hit her from where she landed. Somehow, she managed to open her eyes. When she did, she was sure that she was dreaming. That, or hallucinating from the pain, which was starting to turn into a cold numbness at that point. She wasn’t sure if she should be relieved or concerned about that. 

Why else would Keith be hovering over her with his beautiful violet eyes blown wide with worry? 

The feeling of being safe overwhelmed Pidge to such a degree that she would have cried if she didn’t feel so lost to the world at the moment. She felt Keith’s arms wrap around her, holding her close to him and wished with all of her being that this was real. That he was there. 

Finally able to breathe again, she let the darkness consume her.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're almost to the end! Oh my gosh! Thank you all so much for the love and support that you have shown! It means the world! 
> 
> I do not own Voltron or any of its characters.

Everywhere he looked, Keith saw red. 

This wasn’t just a figure of speech. There was literally red everywhere. On his hands. On his clothes. All over Pidge. On the forest floor. Everywhere. 

He was surrounded by Pidge’s blood. 

Again. 

He had thought he was too late. Seeing her lying so limply in that soldier’s arms, red covering her body, he was certain that she was dead. 

But then she had opened her eyes and took his breath away. She was alive. At least, she was at the moment. 

Keith shook his head. He couldn’t let himself panic. He had to get Pidge somewhere safe so that he could tend to her wounds. He looked around for somewhere to go and saw Shiro sprinting towards him, the rest of Voltron not far behind. They must have wiped out all of the Galra. Despite himself, Keith couldn’t help but be impressed. That was no easy feat. No wonder these guys had survived for so long. 

When they reached him, Shiro held out his arms. Although he didn’t want to be parted from Pidge, Keith obliged, handing her gently over to Shiro. The older boy would take care of her. 

At that, they headed off back to where Keith assumed their new camp was. He made sure to stay a little back from them, as he didn’t want them to feel threatened by his presence. He followed them back to the camp and into the largest of the few tents they had set up. Shiro laid Pidge down on the blowup mattress there and lifted the bottom of her shirt, careful to be gentle with the part above her wound. 

Shay came to his side, bandages in hand, before handing them to Shiro and moving to sit behind Pidge. She lifted the younger girl so that she was leaning against her friend, rather than lying down on the mattress. Keith nodded in approval. This would make putting her bandages on an easier process. 

He would know all about that, wouldn't he?

As he started applying the bandages to the small girl, Shiro suddenly froze, his eyes fixated on a small piece of Pidge’s back visible to him from his position kneeling beside her. He only stayed still for about a second, but the tension in his back lingered as he wrapped bandages around Pidge’s small body. 

Once Pidge was properly bandaged, Shiro said in a tight voice, “Shay, could you turn Pidge over so she’s laying on her stomach?”

Shay frowned at the request but did as she was told. As soon as she did, someone gasped. 

A few of Pidge’s scars could be seen peeking out from under her bunched up shirt. Shiro reached out and, with a trembling hand, pulled up her shirt further. 

For the first time, Voltron saw the ruined expanse of their beloved Pidge’s back. 

Keith could tell that this was the first time they had seen it from the looks of shock and horror plain on their faces. Hunk had turned white pale and looked as though he was going to throw up any second, but seemed to be unable to tear his gaze away. Shay had her head in her hands and was sobbing. Shiro had his eyes closed, but Keith could see tears leaking out from under the closed lids. 

Lance had turned on Keith, fury evident in his blazing blue eyes. 

“What happened to her?” He roared. “Who did this?” When Keith didn’t answer, he grabbed the other boy by the shoulders and shook him violently. “Who did this?”

“I did.”

The sound was barely audible, but it didn’t need to be any louder. Everyone heard it just the same. All eyes were trained on Keith. 

Lance was trembling uncontrollably. “I’m gonna kill you,” He whispered. “I’m gonna kill you for what you did.” 

He pushed Keith so suddenly and so hard that the half-Galra practically flew out of the open door of the tent. He landed hard on the ground, but before he could pull himself up, was punched hard in the face. 

“I’m gonna kill you!” Lance was screaming now, pounding on Keith’s face with his fists with everything he had. Keith let him, not even trying to defend himself. If he was being honest, he was relishing in this feeling. For so long, he wanted to be punished for what he did to Pidge, and now he was finally getting his wish. 

“Lance! Stop!” Shiro grabbed Lance’s arm and yanked him back, forcing the furious boy off of Keith. 

Keith blinked the blood out of his eyes. The pain was a welcome one, but it wasn’t enough for him to atone for what he had done. 

Pidge’s ruined back flashed in his mind. Her screams filled his skull. 

Not nearly enough. 

—————————————————————

Keith had no idea why Voltron let him stay with them. He supposed that they trusted him for bringing Pidge to them, but after he admitted to hurting her, he was flabbergasted as to why that trust hadn’t evaporated. 

One thing he knew for sure was that Lance didn’t trust him one bit. The other boy always made sure to have at least one eye on Keith, watching his every move. Keith didn’t complain. He had done more to deserve that and almost wished that Lance would beat him up again. He supposed Shiro had told him not to pick another fight with him. Besides, Keith had more important things to worry about than Lance. 

Pidge was sick. Very sick. She was constantly shivering, but her skin was burning to the touch. Shay claimed that her wound was infected and that was what brought on the fever. Keith wouldn’t say that he never felt so helpless, because he had been in a situation where he felt more helpless than this, but this was a close second. 

There wasn’t much he could do, other than making sure her bandages were changed, she had food and water, and was covered in blankets. She only woke up a few times, and when she did she was too lethargic to talk to or reason with. Keith and the others used these moments of consciousness to feed help her drink as much as she could, which wasn’t nearly enough. 

According to Hunk, Pidge had disobeyed orders to stay far away from the trouble by running headlong into the middle of the fight. 

“Of course she did,” Keith groaned as he ran his fingers through the sleeping girl’s soft, soft hair. He spent most of his time by her side. She was such an idiot. Such a brave, stupid idiot who didn’t ever think of the repercussions of her actions. 

And now she was going to die for her stupid actions. Keith had watched enough Grey’s Anatomy from his time on Earth when tv was still a thing to know how deadly infections could be. If they had the right antibiotics and a doctor around, she would be fine. As it was though, they were in the middle of the forest with no means at all of healing Pidge. 

The opening to the tent unzipped and Keith looked over to see Lance in the entryway. Blue eyes met violet in a silent standoff. Keith finally relented by turning his head back to face Pidge and Lance fully entered the tent. He sat next to Keith, near Pidge’s feet. 

After a few moments of silence, Lance finally said, “What’s your game, Galra?”

Keith looked over at the Cuban boy and blinked. “What?”

“What are you playing at? What’s your deal with Pidge?”

Keith frowned. He wasn’t entirely sure of how to answer that. He looked back at Pidge. Her face looked so peaceful while she slept. He hoped that whatever she was dreaming was pleasant. A strand of hair fell over her eyes and Keith brushed it out of the way. He loved watching her. He thought that he had memorized every inch of her face, but he always managed to find something new. Like right now, until this moment, he had no idea that she had three freckles in the shape of a triangle right above her left temple. 

“I love her,” he said. Plain and simple. 

Lance blinked. Whatever answer he expected, that wasn’t it. 

“And I know that you do too.”

Lance spluttered and Keith didn’t even have to look at the other boy to know that he was bright red. 

After a moment of awkward silence, Lance finally said, “I’ve always been a womanizer. Every time I saw a girl, I’d be falling over my feet to ogle her. I was a complete dork.”

Lance looked down, his cheeks now a pinkish color. 

“Katie was never even on my radar. When I met her, she was this tiny little thing. I mean, she still is, but she was even smaller then if you can believe it. She was cute, of course, but completely different from the type of girl I was interested in. I was fascinated by her, though. She was a genius, the smartest person I’d ever met. There was never a problem she didn’t know the answer to or couldn’t solve. She was so quick too. As sharp as a whip. Whenever I said a joke, she’d immediately snap back with something that, I have to admit, was always far cleverer than anything I could have said.”

“I don’t know when I fell for her. Maybe it was love at first sight. Maybe it was when she put out the first fire I had set on myself. I pushed away the feelings for so long, it’s hard to tell when they began.”

Lance looked Keith straight in the eyes. This was not the goofy, idiotic Lance that Pidge spoke so fondly of, nor was this the Lance that punched the everliving daylights out of Keith a few days ago. This Lance was completely new and entirely foreign. 

“All I know is that she means the world to me, and I’d do anything for her. She’s my best friend.”

Keith nodded. He knew exactly what Lance was feeling. He knew it all too well. He couldn’t help but feel so jealous of the boy beside him. Lance got to spend years by Pidge’s side, going to school together, playing games together, joking around together. Living their lives together. How he wished he could have been in Lance’s shoes. 

“You’d be much better for her,” Keith said, truthfully. 

“I know I would.”

It was then that Lance dropped his head down again. 

“But she loves you.”

Keith was speechless. He knew that this was a possibility. After all, Pidge confessed her love directly to him before. His mind convinced him that that was a delusional mistake, though. There was no possible way Pidge loved him. Not after what he did to her. But now…

“What do you…? How…?”

“Well for starters, she says your name in her sleep,” Lance said pointedly. “And also, as I was telling her how you brought her back to us, the look on her face was…” He shook his head. “There’s no doubt in my mind that she loves you.”

Keith couldn’t wrap his mind around this information. He should be thrilled, and he was, but he was also disappointed. Lance would be a much better partner for her. 

He spared a glance at the other boy. He was no longer looking at him, staring instead at Pidge. The girl of his dreams. Keith’s opinion of Lance increased dramatically. He knew full well what it was like to be so hopelessly in love with someone that it consumed your whole being. Confessing that love to someone (the person who held your beloved’s heart, no less) was incredibly brave. 

“My brother’s going to be so disappointed,” Keith said, trying to lighten the mood. “He had a thing for Pidge, too.”

“Well, I’ll send him my condolences if I ever see him,” Lance said without any humor in his voice. 

“Don’t bother. He’s a dick.”

Lance let out a sudden bark of laughter. 

“He is,” Keith insisted. “He’s a bastard, a jackass, you name it. If it’s something negative, it describes him perfectly.”

Lance was laughing openly now. Keith smiled. He didn’t want to see the other boy sad. He was starting to like him. 

“If there was an award for ‘Worst Brother in the World’, he’d win it no contest. At least his fiancee’s nice, if that’s anything to...”

Keith suddenly froze, his eyes widened. He was such an idiot. How could he have forgotten?

“I know how to save Pidge.”

“What?” Lance blinked, completely confused as to what brought about this sudden change in conversation. 

“Stay here,” Keith ordered as he bolted out of the tent. 

He couldn’t believe that this had slipped his mind. His heart lifted in his chest. 

‘This will work,’ he thought as he pulled what he needed out of his pocket. 

It had to.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one chapter to go after this!
> 
> I do not own Voltron or any of its characters.

Keith wiped the sweat from his forehead. He could understand why Pidge had talked so incessantly about how much she hated the outdoors. He still enjoyed being outside, overall, but he could see that constantly being out in the heat wouldn’t be a fun experience. 

He checked his watch. Where were they? He was starting to get antsy. He looked over at his companion, who seemed to be just as anxious as he was. 

When he had told Voltron that he had a plan to save Pidge, Lance insisted on joining him on his quest. Keith agreed to let him tag along. He had taken a liking to the other boy and knew that he could come in handy if they got into trouble. From what Pidge told him, Lance was an incredible shot. 

The two hadn’t talked much since their unexpected release of feelings that was completely out of character for both of them. Keith was perfectly fine with this. He had no desire to continue that conversation any further and had a feeling that Lance felt the same way. 

Thirty more minutes passed and Keith was getting really worried. What if something had happened? 

A branch cracked. Keith whipped around, his knife at the ready. Lance snapped his head up and had his gun trained on whatever made the sound faster than he could blink. 

This being a tall orange-haired man with a spectacular orange mustache. 

Keith sighed in relief. “Coran,” he breathed, moving towards the older man. 

Coran was Allura’s advisor, the only one allowed to come with her from Altea when she was brought to be Lotor’s fiancee. He was a bit foppish and could be very idiotic sometimes, but was a genuinely kind soul that Keith was grateful to have around. 

“Stop!” Coran cried suddenly, his eyes narrowed. Keith did as he was told, frowning in confusion. 

“What…?”

“What was it you told me when we first met that made me nearly lose my lunch all over the princess?”

“Um. How humans got their milk from cows?” Keith answered, trying to remember that day and wondering why on Earth it mattered. 

Coran’s entire demeanor changed to become more like what Keith remembered him as being. His eyes brightened and a huge smile formed on his face. 

“Alright, Princess,” he shouted behind him. “You can come out now.”

Allura came out from behind a tree, looking worried but still happy to see Keith. She also seemed to be more than a little annoyed with Coran. 

“I told you that we didn’t have to do that, Coran,” she admonished. 

“Yeah. What was that for?” Keith asked, his voice raised. 

“I had to make sure that you were really you and not a Galra soldier in disguise,” Coran explained as if that was a completely reasonable explanation. 

“Galra can’t change their appearance,” Keith slapped his hand on his forehead. “Only Alteans can.”

“Oh,” Coran said, looking a bit embarrassed. “Well, you can’t be too safe.”

Allura rolled her eyes. “I tried to tell him, but he wouldn’t listen.”

Keith looked over at Lance to introduce him but found that the other boy wasn’t paying attention to this conversation at all. Instead, he was completely focused on the Altean princess. His eyes became comically wide. His mouth formed into a little ‘o’. Keith didn’t blame him. Allura’s beauty was nothing to scoff at. In fact, he was impressed that Lance hadn’t fainted at the sight of her. It wouldn’t be the first time that had happened. 

“Lance,” he said a little sharply to break him out of his stupor. Lance jolted back to reality, his cheeks a little pink from embarrassment. “This is Allura. She’s a friend. She’s going to heal Pidge.”

The Cuban boy looked intently at the beautiful girl. “Can you really save her?” he implored.

“Yes,” she answered with nothing but confidence in her voice. 

Lance breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed for the first time in days. “Thank God,” he murmured. 

“But we must hurry,” Allura said, seriously. “The Galra can’t know we’ve gone missing.”

Keith nodded. “Alright. Follow me.”

—————————————————————

On their way back to Voltron’s camp, they had run into a couple of Galra sentries. That hadn’t proved to be even the slightest problem, because Lance took them down with barely a second of warning. Pidge had been right. Lance was an excellent shot and Keith was glad to have him at his back. 

Finally, the camp came into view. Keith led the Alteans to Pidge’s tent, where Shiro was sitting by her side. The leader of the group looked up on their arrival and immediately stood to greet them. Allura wasted no time with this, instead immediately dropping to Pidge’s side and placing her hands on the young girl’s burning face. 

“Alright everyone,” Coran announced. “Out, out, out. The princess needs her space to work.”

The boys did as they were told, filing out of the tent but not going any further than they absolutely had to. None of them wanted to leave Pidge’s side. Coran didn’t object, so they let themselves get comfortable as they waited. Keith took to pacing back and forth, Shiro stood stoically in front of the tent with his arms crossed looking almost statuesque, and Lance was curled up under a tree with his arms wrapped around his legs and his eyes fixated on the tent. 

Coran brushed his mustache. 

It was a little over three hours when Allura finally exited from the tent. Keith, Lance, and Shiro rushed to her side. Coran stayed where he was, still brushing his mustache (it takes a while to achieve such greatness). The princess looked exhausted and a little haggard, but a bright smile covered all of that up. 

“The infection is gone and her wound is closed,” she said, happily. “She’s going to be okay.”

“Can we go see her?” Lance asked, breathlessly. 

At Allura’s nod, he and Shiro immediately rushed into the tent without another word. Keith stayed behind with the Altean. 

“Thank you,” he said to her. He was at a loss for what else to say. What would he do without Allura?

She smiled, took his hand, and squeezed it. 

“It was my pleasure. Just make sure to keep her out of trouble. We don’t want to have to call me back again, now do we?” Her eyes twinkled but seemed sad at the same time. 

“Don’t go back,” Keith begged, although he knew it was useless. “Stay here with us.”

She shook her head, still smiling but not quite enough so that it reached her eyes. “You know I can’t, Keith.”

Keith sighed. He hated that she was going to have to leave them, but she had a duty to her people. If she abandoned the Galra, Zarkon would undoubtedly take his anger out on what remained of Altea.

Allura brought Keith into her arms. They were the same height, so it was a little awkward, but they managed. “He’s still out there,” she whispered in his ear. Keith tensed but didn’t pull away. “He won’t stop until he has her. Be careful. Keep her safe.”

She ran her fingers comfortingly through Keith’s hair. Keith closed his eyes, imagining that the touch belonged to his mother. 

“Be strong.”

—————————————————————

Pidge didn’t wake up immediately. Before she left with Coran, Allura explained that Pidge needed to rest a little bit more to fully heal. Shiro set up a schedule for him, Keith, and Lance to take turns staying with her while the others took care of the rest of the camp.

Keith didn’t know whether the universe was rewarding or punishing him when her eyes opened during his watch. 

She looked over at him, her eyes lidded but definitely open. 

“Keith?” she croaked. 

“I’m here. I’m here,” he cooed, his fingers lightly grazing her cheek. His heart was racing. He was finding it hard to breathe. What was he supposed to say to her?

At the sound of his voice, she blinked a couple of times before fully opening her eyes. She stared at him, her eyes wide and lips parted. Keith was hit with the sudden urge to kiss those plump, pink lips when her expression suddenly turned incredibly sour. 

“You left me,” her eyes were blazing. “You sent me away without telling me you were going to, and then you left without saying goodbye.”

Keith blinked. If there was one thing he thought her first words to him were going to be, that wasn’t it. 

“I...um…”

“Did you even think about what I would have to say in the matter?” Pidge was sitting up now, her previous condition seemingly forgotten. 

“Well, I assumed you didn’t want to be stuck with the Galra and possibly beaten half to death again!”

“Of course I wouldn’t want that! I just don’t like that you made the decision without me!”

“Oh, I’m sorry! Next time when you’re lying on your deathbed, I’ll consult you first before making a split-second decision to save your life!” 

The two of them glowered at each other, breathing heavily. Keith didn’t want to yell at her, especially as she was still recovering. She could just be so difficult sometimes. It made him want to pull his hair out. 

Pidge broke eye contact by looking down at her hands. Her fingers were clenched together in her lap and shaking slightly. 

“I was worried about you, Keith,” she softly said. “When I woke up, I was back with my friends and I was thrilled. I really was! But I had no idea what happened to you. Lance said that after you dropped me off, you just disappeared without a word. You didn’t even leave me a note. For all I knew, you could have been dead, or tortured by your father as punishment for letting me go. You gave me no means to know if you were okay. It was like you thought you didn’t matter in my life.”

“I shouldn’t. Not after what I did to you.”

“I thought we went over this,” she groaned. “Remember? In the conversation where I stupidly confessed my love for you?”

Keith blinked. He was sure that her deliriousness would have caused her to forget that little detail. 

“You...you remember that?” he stuttered. 

“Of course I do, you dummy.” she flicked him in the forehead. “I’ve been beating myself up about it ever since!” She turned bright red and Keith was sure that he did as well. 

“Did you mean it?” he asked. “Did you mean what you said?”

She took a shuddering breath before saying, “yes,” in a small voice. 

“That’s really stupid of you.”

“Trust me, I know. But you’re the one that’s always calling me an idiot,” she grinned. “You should be fully aware that I tend to make dumb decisions.”

Keith laughed. “I can’t get on to you too much for that. I’d just be a hypocrite.” His breath caught in his chest. His brain kept telling him to stop talking, but he ignored it. “I’ve made quite a similarly idiotic decision recently.”

“And what would that be?”

“Falling in love with you.”

Pidge’s eyes widened and she made a small sound that sounded almost like a hiccup. 

“I’d consider that the best decision you’ve ever made if I’m being honest,” she said once she got ahold of herself. 

“Some days I think that, but other times I’m not so sure.” The only source of light in the tent was from a flashlight in the corner, but despite the darkness, Keith could clearly see her the sparkles emitting from her shimmering eyes. God, she was beautiful. 

“Like when?” She licked her lips subconsciously and Keith thought he was going to die right there. 

“Like when you give me a heart attack after almost getting yourself killed.” He didn’t know who initiated it, but suddenly the two of them were leaning towards each other. 

“You’re one to talk, Mister ‘let me take her punishment myself’.” With every word she spoke, the closer their bodies became. 

He couldn’t help but chuckle. “I guess we’re both just a couple of idiots.” Their noses were nearly touching. 

“Well you know what they say,” they were so close that he could feel her breath on his lips. “Great minds think alike.”

Without waiting another second to think through what he was about to do, he connected his lips with hers. 

It was everything he wanted it to be and more. He couldn’t help but closed his eyes as the feeling of bliss overcame him. Her lips molded with his so perfectly it was like they were made for each other. She was warm. She was so, so warm and filled with life. With one arm around her waist, his other hand came up to cup her cheek. He rubbed his thumb over her smooth, smooth skin. 

When they finally pulled away, it was only so they could take in a couple of gasping breaths. 

Keith fell in love all over again as he looked at Pidge’s flushed cheeks. Her pink, freshly-kissed lips. Her gorgeous eyes that were running all over his face. From her expression, Keith could tell without looking at his hands that he was in his human form. 

He never wanted to change back. 

Pidge initiated their next kiss. She grabbed his face and pulled him towards her so fast that their teeth crashed together. They both cringed but didn’t let it slow them down. Keith gasped as she pulled him down so that she was lying back down on the mattress and he was over her, not once separating her lips from his. He made sure to hold himself above her with his hands on either side of her head as to not crush her with his weight. 

When Pidge’s fingers buried themselves in his hair, he couldn’t stop the groan that escaped his mouth. Pidge noticed this and giggled, pulling at the strands and eliciting another groan from the half-human. 

This had to be what heaven felt like. He wanted more. He wanted...

“Wait, wait, wait,” he pulled back and rolled off her, shaking his head. Pidge sat up looking both puzzled and annoyed. “What are we doing?”

“Um. I think it’s called making out.”

“I know what it’s called,” he rolled his eyes. “But you’re still recovering from being stabbed! You should be resting, not kissing me!” 

“Well you know us idiots,” she smirked. “We always have our priorities in order.”

Keith laughed. She did have a point there. Feeling lighter than he ever had before, he captured her lips again.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the last chapter! Aaah! I can't believe it! I hope you enjoy!
> 
> I do not own Voltron or any of its characters.

Pidge had never done drugs. Matt had once and had been sick for days afterward. Their parents had also grounded him for nearly a year. All of that had pretty much prevented her from ever wanting to try it herself. 

She had a theory though, that the feeling of being high was very similar to that of kissing Keith. 

His lips were surprisingly soft, and the feeling of them on hers was enough to make her head spin. There was also the added bonus of her kisses causing him to transform to look like a human. Keith said that it was her superpower, and she responded by wondering if she should test that hypothesis by kissing a bunch of other Galra to see if it had the same effect. 

Keith did not find that joke amusing one bit. 

The looks on Shiro’s and Lance’s faces when they saw Keith in his human form were priceless. Pidge wished that she had a camera to capture their expressions of shock and utter confusion. Even so, she knew that she wouldn’t forget them any time soon. 

She expected Keith to turn back to normal after a while, but to her surprise, he didn’t. So far, Keith had held his human appearance for two full days with no sign of transforming back any time soon. If she was being honest with herself, she wasn’t complaining. Human was a good look for Keith. When his skin and eyes weren’t the same color, the violet orbs stood out even more. 

Seriously, she could get lost in those eyes. 

“Guys! Come out here! Hunk and Shay are back!”

Pidge and Keith immediately burst out of her tent at Lance’s shout. The two of them had been attempting to patch up the hole that appeared in Pidge’s air mattress with less than favorable results. Pidge was on the verge of scrapping the thing and going out to get a new mattress. Keith was much more patient. Ever since she had woken up he hadn’t strayed from her side. She liked to think that it was because he couldn’t bear to be parted from her, but in reality, knew that it was because he felt awkward around Lance and Shiro. While she wanted him to get over this and hang out with her friends, she understood that it would take time for Keith to do so. Like her, he wasn’t the best with people. 

“Oh my gosh! Pidge! You’re alive!” 

Pidge beamed as her bubbling Samoan friend scooped her up in his arms and squeezed her tight. He only hugged her for about two seconds, though, before immediately letting her go, fussing over her and apologizing for crushing her. She laughed it off. Sure, she was a little sore and his hug kind of hurt, but she didn’t care. She was just happy to see her friend alive and well. 

“Hunk, let her breathe,” Shay said kindly. The older girl smiled at Pidge before bringing her into a hug that was much less bone-crushing, yet no less comforting. 

Pidge sighed and relaxed against her friends. She had missed Shay and Hunk so much. 

As he was telling Voltron about his plan to heal Pidge, Keith had also mentioned his brother, as well as his obsession with Pidge. He explained that the elder prince was definitely responsible for the attack a few days ago, and as Lotor wasn’t involved with that fight, he was surely hiding out somewhere, biding his time. Luckily, Shiro seemed to understand the severity of this situation and had sent Hunk and Shay out to track down Lotor while Keith and Lance went off to get Allura. 

While Keith and Lance’s mission took less than a day to complete, Hunk and Shay had been away for nearly a week. This was to be expected, as they had a lot more ground to cover, but Pidge had been getting worried about them. She was glad that they were back safe and sound. 

“Hey! Who’s this guy?” Hunk was pointing at Keith, who looked pretty uncomfortable with the attention. 

“That’s Keith,” Pidge explained as she pulled away from Shay. 

“No, it’s not. Keith is a Galra,” Hunk said. 

“Uh. Yeah, it is.” Pidge pulled Keith closer to Hunk, the half-humans face growing red. “Look. He has the same face. He’s just not purple.”

“Oh,” Hunk said quietly, looking thoroughly ashamed of himself. 

“Hunk! Shay!” Shiro ran towards the group. “Did you find Lotor?”

Hunk nodded, glad that a new topic of conversation had been started. “Yeah. The guy’s got about a dozen Galra with him in an outpost nearly 37 miles east of us. 

“Why’d you say 37?” Shay asked. “That’s such a weird number. Just say nearly 40 miles.”

“I like the number 37,” Hunk shrugged as if that answered Shay’s question. 

“Only a dozen?” Lance laughed as he whipped out and cocked his rifle. “We could take ‘em.”

“Maybe you could,” Keith said. “But it wouldn’t be easy, and there’s also my brother to deal with. He’s a whole other kind of insane.”

“Would it be possible for us to beat them?” Shiro asked. 

Keith studied the group before him. “If everyone goes in there with all they got, then I say we have a chance.”

“That’s good enough for me!” Lance whooped.

“But wait,” Keith said. “Leave my brother to me.” His eyes were blazing and his voice was steely. “I want to be the one to end his life.”

“Duly noted,” Hunk gulped. 

Shiro looked intently at Keith before saying, “Can you deal with him?”

“Yes,” Keith said without a hint of doubt in his voice. 

If Pidge hadn’t met Lotor before, she might have believed him.

—————————————————————

“I can’t believe you guys aren’t letting me go with you!” Pidge fumed. 

“We’ve been over this, Pidge,” Keith said as he rubbed his temples as if to relieve a headache. “You’re still recovering, and if Lotor sees you, he won’t focus on anything other than getting you.”

“Then let me go! I could be a distraction!”

“No!” Keith snapped. 

Pidge blinked at the harshness in his tone before huffing and slamming her body down on her air mattress. With a heavy sigh, Keith sat down beside her. 

“I’m already worried about this whole thing,” he finally said after a moment of silence. “They found him way too easily, and he didn’t offer up any resistance.”

“You call continuously searching the forest for days easy?”

“Considering everything I know about my brother, yes.” he clenched his fists. “I really don’t like it. It’s like he’s trying to get us to go after him.” he bowed his head. “I can’t afford to worry about you too. None of us can. If you go, we’d constantly be watching you and leaving ourselves vulnerable. We’d be more likely to get hurt. You need to stay here where it’s safe.”

He grabbed her hand and looked at her imploringly. 

“Please, Pidge. I’m begging you.”

She knew that there was nothing she could do to convince him. And besides, she never could say no to those violet eyes. She closed her eyes and nodded in defeat. 

Keith breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Thank God, you finally made a smart decision. Would you keep this safe for me?”

Pidge opened her eyes to see him holding his knife out towards her. His face was red. She blinked in disbelief. 

“It was my mother's. I...I want you to have it.”

“But how will you fight?”

“I brought a sword with me. I won’t be defenseless. Please take it.”

She slowly reached out her hand and did just that. It was heavier than she expected it to be. She found herself in awe of its beauty. It was too pretty-looking to be a weapon. 

Almost like Keith, himself. 

—————————————————————

Everything was eerily quiet without the boys around. That was probably due to the lack of Lance’s jokes and comments, which would usually be a good thing, but Pidge still felt empty inside all the same. It didn’t help that she was wracked with worry for their safety. 

At least she had Shay with her. The group decided that they needed someone to stay behind with Pidge to watch over her and protect her (make sure she didn’t sneak off after them). Shay volunteered to do it, as it was clear by the looks on their faces that none of the boys were going to do so. 

Pidge sighed, wiping the sweat out of her eyes. Why did it have to be so hot? She found herself almost missing the coolness of being indoors at the Galra base. Keith had brought some Galra tech with him when he escaped his home, so Pidge was trying to busy herself by tinkering with it. 

It wasn’t working. 

All she could think about were her boys, risking their lives for her sake. And she wasn’t even allowed to help them. It was driving her mad. 

Shay’s yell brought Pidge out of her stupor. The younger girl’s head shot up, and she leaped out of her tent as fast as her legs could take her. Shay was lying on the ground, unconscious. A line of blood trickled down from her forehead. 

Lotor was in front of her. 

As Pidge exited the tent, the prince turned to face her. His face broke into a grin, his eyes gleaming maniacally. 

“Ah. My darling kitten. I’m quite relieved to see that you hadn’t been killed. I see that it takes more than a hundred lashes to do you in. Good to know.”

Pidge couldn’t move. She couldn’t even breathe. What was he doing here?

“It was quite difficult for me, you know,” Lotor continued. “To wait for when your precious princes would leave you unguarded. Well, aside from her.” he gestured to Shay on the ground. “But she wasn’t an issue at all.”

“What did you do to my friend?” Pidge roared, letting anger bring her out of her frozen state of fear. 

“Ah, yes. There’s my fiery lioness.” Lotor licked his lips. “Don’t you worry about her. I didn’t kill her. I just needed her out of the way for a while. Now there is no one standing between me and you.”

He started forward. Pidge stepped back, keeping the distance between them. Lotor didn’t seem to be too bothered. He took his time, slowly stalking closer and closer towards her. 

Pidge looked wildly around. She almost expected her friends to come popping out from behind trees to rescue her. But they were nowhere in sight. 

She was all alone. 

There was no one to protect her. She had to save herself. All of her knives were left back in her tent. The only thing she had to defend herself was in her pocket. She drew it out. 

“Are you expecting to fend me off with that?” Lotor laughed. “Even if you knew how to use it, you are but a weak little child. I am the prince of the Galran Empire. I can assure you that you will not succeed in a fight with me.” 

He held out his arms to her. “Just do us both a favor, and give yourself over to me.”

Pidge narrowed her eyes in determination. She wasn’t weak, she wasn’t going to let him take her, and she wasn’t going to submit to this son of a bitch. 

She threw with all of her strength. 

Lotor froze, as did Pidge. Both of their eyes looked down at Keith’s knife protruding from the prince’s chest. 

He choked, eyes wide, and stumbled, falling hard to the ground. Pidge could hear his raspy breaths as he tried to get himself under control. 

“Pidge! Pidge!”

Pidge whirled around to see Keith sprinting towards her. 

“Keith!”

She ran to meet him. He pulled her into his arms. 

“You’re okay,” he gasped. “Thank God you’re okay.”

“What are you doing here?” she asked, surprising herself with being able to speak a coherent sentence. 

“When we got to the camp, Lotor wasn’t there. I knew that he had gone after you, so I ran back here as fast as I could.”

“And everyone else?” she pulled back to look him in the eye. 

“Their taking care of the soldiers Lotor left behind.”

At the look of concern on her face, he quickly added, “Don’t worry. They’ll be fine. It’s nothing that those guys can’t handle.”

Pidge couldn’t help but smile at the way he spoke of her friends, but immediately stopped when Keith’s expression darkened. She turned to see that his gaze was entirely fixed on Lotor, who hadn’t moved from his position. 

“I know that you probably want to kill him yourself,” he said quietly. “But, can you let me do it?”

Pidge wanted nothing more than to ignore his request, but looking at his face she knew she couldn’t. Lotor had tormented Keith for years. It was because of him that his mother died. That he was forced to torture Pidge nearly to death. 

She nodded and stepped back. 

Keith walked over to his brother. He stood over him for a moment and the two glared at each other. Lotor opened his mouth, but Keith slit his throat before he could beg for his life. 

Seconds passed in nothing but silence. As she stared at Keith’s unmoving back, Pidge was at a loss of what to say. It all happened so fast that it didn’t seem real. 

Lotor was dead. 

Keith turned around, his face white and his eyes wide. 

“He’s gone,” he croaked. 

Pidge rushed at him and flung herself into his arms. He caught her and pulled her tightly against him, burrowing his face into the crook of her neck. Pidge couldn’t tell if she was shaking, or if Keith was, or if both of them were. 

Keith kept muttering, “He’s gone. He’s gone. He’s really gone.”

She could feel tears rolling down her cheeks and finally felt able to breathe again. She squeezed Keith tightly, never wanting to let him go again. 

Everything was going to be okay. 

They had each other. 

And that was enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, guys. I can't believe that it's finally over! Thank you all for your lovely comments and for leaving kudos on my story. It has meant the world to me! I love seeing that people are enjoying it! I plan to write some more soon, but it will be a while as I am starting college. I hope you will all read my stuff when I manage to get it out here! There will be more Kidge, as well as stories from other fandoms. 
> 
> Thank you all so much again!


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